Titanic
by blaise88100
Summary: "Fifteen hundred people went into the sea when Titanic sank from under us. There were twenty boats floating nearby... and only one came back. Six were saved from the water, myself included. Six. Out of fifteen hundred."
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is a re-upload of a fic I'd published on my other account. Its been a long time, and my writing style might've changed a little. Anyways, feedback is appreciated. Please point out any grammar, spelling, or usage mistakes you may find. -B

...

The crashing of the waves was all that could be heard above the sound of the whirring machinery surrounding him until Linda interrupted.

"Mell, satellite call for you." She said seriously.

"Linda… We're launching. Can't you see these submersibles going in the water?" Mello asked in an irritated tone.

"Trust me Mello." She said, gripping his shoulder tightly, "you _want_ to take this call."

Mello looked at her bemusedly before giving in, but not without a warning. "This had _better _be worth it, Lin, or it's _your _paycheck."

She smiled, saying "You should speak up, he's kinda old." Before handing him the phone; He took it from her hand and spoke.

"Hello, this is Mello Keehl, what can I do for you Mr.…" He looked to Linda for a name, "Yagami. Liam Yagami." she whispered, "Mr. Yagami?"

_"Please, call me L. I was wondering, have you **found** the heart of the ocean yet, Mr. Keehl?"_

Mello stared at Linda, a look of astonishment on his face. "Told 'ya you wanted to take this call." She smirked.

"You have my attention, L. Can you tell us who the young man in the picture is?" Mello prompted exitedly.

_"Oh, yes."_ a small chuckle,_ "the young man in the picture is me."_

_..._

"HE'S A GODDAMN LIAR!" Matt shouted once again while he and Mello headed to the heli-pad to greet said 'liar', "Some nut-case seeking money or publicity, God only knows what! Like that Russian babe, Anastasia." He said this all around a cigarette while staring at his beloved PSP before putting it up and looking at Mello seriously. "Liam Lawliet _died,_ on the Titanic, when he was seventeen, right?" he asked. "That's right." Mello confirmed. "If he had _lived_ he'd be over a hundred by now!" He reasoned, "A hundred and seventeen next month." Mello answered confidently. "Okay… So he's a very _OLD _goddamn liar…" Matt shouted

"_They're inbound!" _They heard Linda shout.

"Look, Mell, I've done the background on this dude all the way back to the twenties, when he was working as an _actor. _AN _ACTOR_!" Matt was getting more passionate the closer they got, "There's your first clue, Sherlock! His name was Liam Yagami even back then! Then he moves to Cedar Rapids, and he adopts a couple of kids. Now the kids are dead, and from what I hear, Cedar Rapids is dead!" He exasperated, and was going to continue, till Mello rounded on him and glared. "Anyone who knows about the diamond is _supposed _to be dead or on this boat, but _he knows." _And with that, the argument ended and the helicopter landed.

Mello and Matt watched as the crew unloaded suitcase after suitcase from the helicopter. "Doesn't exactly travel lite, does he?" Matt grumbled around his newly lit cigarette as he stared at the young man getting out of the vehicle. Mello ignored him and ran up to the boy.

"Hello, Near, I assume?" the albino nodded. "Welcome to the Keehlvas." The blonde said with a genuine smile, then turned his attention to the older man making his way down the stairs. "Hello, Mr. Yagami." He said with slight awe in his voice. It surprised him how young the man appeared… he only looked to be in his early fifties…"Hello." The grey-streaked man answered simply in a deep baritone.

Matt observed from the distance till a quiet voice distracted him. "He only wants the diamond." The white-haired boy stated. "He wants to meet him too." Matt defended, "He's in awe right now." He told the albino, not looking away from the scene of Mello trying to help the old man walk… with numerous disregarded protests from aforementioned man...

Mello knocked on the doorframe to the old man's stateroom while observing him and the albino quietly placing photos on a table. "Are you enjoying your staterooms?" he interrupted. "Yes, they're lovely." L answered curtly. He then saw the blonde's attention was on the picture in his hand. "I have to take my pictures when I travel." He stated, "Have you met my grandson, Near?" he asked, noticing the redhead behind Mello for the first time and quickly diverting to a separate subject than what he had planned. "He looks after me." He looked to Near. "Yes, we've met." The albino confirmed. "Remember, L? Up on deck." He questioned. "Oh." L said, watching as the redhead rolled his eyes and uncross his arms to light a cigarette. "Well," Mello interrupted the tense atmosphere, "is there anything I can get for you? Anything you want?" he asked. "Yes," L said, a dreamy look coming to his obsidian eyes, "I would like to see my drawing."

...

Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with the writers, artists, or any other partners involved in the anime/manga Death Note. I do not claim ownership to Titanic or any other copyrighted, trademarked, or otherwise licenced material that appears in the above, or any following chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

I looked down into the shallow water in the box at the drawing I hadn't seen in nearly a century. It still looked the same apart from a slight browning of the paper. I remembered lying naked on that couch in the god-awful sitting room while he drew me…

*Flashback*

_Amber eyes barely seen over the sketch paper swept over his naked form and settled on his own deep black orbs before sliding back to the paper on which his almost-bare body was being immortalized. The young man's cheeks flushing at the idea of being observed in his current state before he was once again distracted by the burning gaze that sent flames licking over every inch of his skin…_

*end*

I opened my eyes again when Mello interrupts to nothing but the sight of my younger self on the paper.

"Louis the Sixteenth wore a fabulous stone, called the Blue Diamond of the Crown," he says, looking at the reference photo of the diamond, "which disappeared in 1792, about the time old Louis lost everything from the neck up. The theory goes that the crown diamond was chopped too... recut into a heart-like shape... and it became Le Coeur de la Mer, _The Heart of the Ocean_. Today it would be worth more than the Hope Diamond." He explains, looking into my eyes.

"It was a dreadful, heavy thing." I say, pointing to the drawing, "I only wore it this once."

"L, do you honestly believe this is you?" Near asked, gazing at me incredulously.

"It _is_ me, Near." I said boredly, "Wasn't I a dish?" I joked.

"I traced the insurance records all the way back to an old claim that was settled under absolute secrecy. Can you tell me who the claimant was, L?" Mello asked, staring hard into my eyes. "I should imagine it's someone named Morello." I stated, not fazed at all by the intense look. "That's right, Thierry Morello, Pittsburgh steel tycoon." Mello looked ecstatic, "For a diamond necklace his son Aiber bought for his lover… You… A week before he sailed on Titanic. It was filed right after the sinking, so that means the diamond must have gone down with the ship." He reasoned. "Sound logic." I commented, smirking to myself.

"What is all this supposed to mean?" Near interrupted, thoroughly confused and not enjoying it a bit. Mello pointed at the date under the initials L.Y. on the drawing. _My Light… How I miss you so…_ "April 14th, 1912?" Near questioned, still not quite understanding. "It means" Matt cut in, "that if your grandfather is who he _says _he is, then he was wearing the diamond the _day_ the Titanic sank." He looked very skeptically at Mello who now had his hand on my shoulder, eyes glowing with excitement. "And that makes you my new best friend. We will happily compensate you for anything you can tell us that will lead to its recovery." The blonde said seriously with a dazzling smile that could never compare with my Light's. I looked at the blonde with a critical eye before turning away and saying "I don't want your money, Mr. Keehl. I know how hard it is for people who care greatly for it to give some away." Snippily. The redhead, Matt Jeevas, rolled his eyes and said skeptically, "You don't want _anything?"_ I looked to him and pointed to the drawing of myself. "You may give me this, if anything I tell you is of value."

"Deal" I heard Mello say quickly.

We then crossed the room into another section of the lab and Mello informed me that these were things they'd recovered from my staterooms. Scattered across the tables were fifty or so objects, all ranging in value. I reached towards one I recognized, my fingers trembling as I lifted the tortoise shell hand mirror, inlaid with mother of pearl. I caressed it, staring wonderingly. "This was mine," I whispered, not trusting my voice, and look over the object. "How extraordinary! It looks the same as last time I saw it…" I comment, turning it over to examine my reflection, seeing my messy black-grey hair and the wrinkles around my eyes and mouth. I don't look as old as I am, but the difference is still noticeable. I frown and place it back on the table. "The reflection has changed a bit." I say, moving on to the next thing I recognize, a silver and moonstone art-nouveau brooch. "My mother's brooch. She wanted to go back for it." I say, "Caused quite the fuss."

I made to walk away when something else caught my eye. A small silver ring that looks cheap amongst everything else, but reminds me of so many things…

"Are you ready to go back to Titanic?" Mello asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I sat down to a computer as Matt began an animation of the sinking, explaining along in time with the computers animation. "Okay," he started, taking a deep breath, "so she hits the berg on the starboard side and kind of bumps along, punching holes like Morse code 'dit, dit, dit' down the side, below the waterline, now she's flooding in the forward compartments, and the water spills over the water-tight bulkheads, from E deck, then up and up… and as the bow goes down, the stern rises up, slow at first the faster and faster 'till her whole ass is sticking up in the air, and that's a big ass, I mean, we're talking twenty, thirty thousand tons… and the hull's not designed to deal with that kind of pressure, so what'll she do?" he makes a breaking sound and gestures a split with his hands, "She splits. Right down to the keel and the stern falls back, level, but as the bow begins to sink, the stern rises up, vertical till the bow finally detaches. Now, the bow section planes away, going twenty, thirty knots when it hits the ocean floor. 'BAM!'" he did the sound of a crash along with the speakers as I watched emotionlessly. "The stern just bobs there like a cork for a few minutes, floods, then finally goes under about 2:20 am, two hours and forty minutes after the collision."

He finally finishes his long winded and colorful portrayal of the sinking with a proud smirk. "Pretty cool, huh?" he asks me. "Thank you for that fine… _forensic_… analysis, Mr. Jeevas," I say monotonously, "but the experience of it was… somewhat different." I stated, still looking at the screen of the computer. "Will you share it with us?" Mello asks me, getting out a tape recorder.

I rise from my place seated in one of the office chairs and look over the many monitors displaying film collected from their expeditions. One in particular draws my eye and I remember passing thru those doors many times in the short time I had been there.

"It's been… ninety nine years." I say, realizing for the first time how long it really has been.

"It's okay, just tell us anything. Anything you remember." Mello prompts and I lose my patience. "Do you want to hear this or not, Mr. Keehl?" he shuts up and nods, and I continue, "It's been ninety nine years… and I can still smell the fresh paint…" I see it now as I close my eyes and loose myself to the memories… the smoke from those huge stacks, the sounds of people all around me admiring the large masterpiece, the smell of leather in that horribly expensive automobile I had travelled in with **that man**… _"The china had never been used… the sheets had never been slept in…"_ I feel the hand upon mine as Aiber helps me out of the car, _"Titanic was called 'The Ship of Dreams', and it was..." _I lift my head to peek from under my hat and hair to look at the monstrous ship before me. _"It really was…" _

_..._

Should have the first 3 or 4 chapters up by Friday.


	3. Chapter 3

Theres about to be alot of POV switching, first person and third from both L and Light. I put breaks between each switch to help quell the confusion, but its still kinda crazy.

...

April 10th, 1912

I examine the ship with a critical eye, and judge it to be about 880 feet in length, quite a bit longer than any other ship I had seen or been on, but angering Aiber was one of my specialties, and he despised my indifference to his showing off.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about." I comment quietly, "It doesn't look any bigger than the Mauretania." I say nonchalantly although I can tell by looking it is approximately ninety feet longer.

"You can be blasé about some things, L, but not about Titanic!" Aiber shouts incredulously, "it's well over a hundred feet longer than the Mauretania! And much more luxurious…" I smirk at his incorrect estimate as he turns to help my mother from her car, saying "Your son is far too difficult to impress, Eve." She smiles at him and shoots me a look when his attention is drawn elsewhere. I read it like a grade school book. It says _don't you dare mess this up for us_. I look away from her back to the ship and begin to ponder my fate as I have so many times these past days…

Mother and I begin our walk towards the ship after Aiber joins us once again, "So this is the ship they say is unsinkable." Mother comments as we begin boarding, "It is unsinkable!" Aiber says with conviction, "God himself could not sink this ship!" He speaks with pride, almost that of a host providing a special experience. Two yelling steerage boys run past and one shoves Aiber in his pursuit of the other, the blonde man gives an annoyed glance and shouts "Steady!" at the boy. "I'm sorry, sir." the cockney father says as he pushes on after the shouting boys.

"Steerage swine." I hear Aiber comment, "Apparently missed his annual bath." I look away and try to ignore his unkind comments. I wish I could be like those boys, free to do as I want and not have to worry about what society demands of me.

"Honestly, Aiber," I pull myself from my fantasy as I hear my mother speak, "if you weren't forever booking everything at the last minute, we could have gone thru the terminal instead of running along the dock like some squalid immigrant family." I glare at her distastefully and turn away once again, planning on separating myself from them, until I hear my future business partner speak.

"All part of my charm, Eve." He says cockily, "At any rate," he continues, "it was your darling sons beauty rituals which made us late." He explains, an ever-present air of arrogance surrounding him.

"You told me to change." I defend quietly, still sounding as disinterested as I always did.

"I couldn't let you wear black on sailing day, dear," he says, giving me an incredulous look, "its bad luck." He says, as if it is a commonly known fact. I scowl at the mention of him 'letting' me do anything and think of the bruises on my wrists from his 'persuasion'.

"I felt like black." I say, effectively ending the conversation with my irritated tone. He doesn't want to anger me before boarding, and I know his reasons an am disgusted with them. I do not wish to give myself to such a horrible man.

As we make our way thru the loading doors I get a crawling feeling that I'm boarding a slave ship that is taking me back to America in chains. I know that I must give this man anything he wishes; Mother has told me so, if only to salvage what is left of our once proud name.

As I ponder this fate of mine I allow no emotions to slip thru my perfectly constructed mask of indifference. On the outside, I am everything a proper businessman should be, but on the inside… I'm _screaming_.

...

I may not be able to quite understand what the Swedes' at our table may have said, but I can tell it's bad. I catch the word 'bijetter' which translates to 'ticket' so I assume they are upset about the possibility of losing their tickets to the U.S on the largest and most luxurious ship to ever grace the earth in a game of poker at a bar in England against a couple of Asian guys, but tough luck for them, because I most definitely plan on winning.

I had been to the U.S before, but needed something other than rainy, oppressive England. I had planned to go to France again, but… oh, Matsuda is talking to me. "Raito… What are-a you doing?" he asks. I give him a look to show him I don't understand. "You bet all our money…" he explains in Japanese. "It's ok. When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose." Is all I say in return.

"So," I continue, speaking to the other two as well now, showing Matsuda that they understand some English, "This is the moment of truth, boys. Somebody's life's about to change. Matsuda?" I ask, "Nothing." He states, looking at me with venomous eyes, "Olaf?" I ask the other man, he places his cards down to show he has nothing, "Sven?" I question the last man at the table, and he places down his cards with a smirk. He has something. I look at his hand then look to Matsuda with pleading eyes.

"Two pair. I'm sorry, Matsu…" He jumps out of his seat in rage and shouts, "'Sorry'?" in English, and then switches to his native Japanese, "Mother fucker! You bet all our money!—" I cut him off, also switching languages "I'm sorry, Matsuda, you're not gonna be able to see your mother for a long time…" he looks at me as if I've grown another head, "'Cause we're going to America! Full house boys!" I shout in English and slam my hand on the table for all of them to see. "Oh, god!" Matsuda yells, also switching back, "I can't berieve it, we go to America!" I nod and grab the tickets off the table to kiss them "I'm getting outta here!" I yell, but get interrupted by the barman, "No, mate," He says and jabs his thumb at the clock hanging on the wall, "Titanic go to America. In five minutes.

Matsuda and I scramble to gather all the money from the table, muttering curses, and take off running towards the great ship. "We're riding in high style now!" I shout to Matsuda as he scrambles behind me, "We're like a couple of regular swells! Practically goddamned _royalty_, ragazzo mio!" I yell to him, dodging people and luggage and carts on our mad dash to the boarding ramp.

"WAIT!" I shout to a man detaching the ramp, running up to him, "we're passengers!" I shout a couple times, handing him our tickets. He looks over me, my cheap clothes covered in paint and coal, and asks, "Have you been thru the inspection queue?"

"Of course!" I lie, "Anyway, we don't have any lice. We're Americans, both of us." I say, indicating Matsuda behind me. "Right," he says skeptically, but accepting because of my perfect American accent, "come aboard."

We jump over the gap as the officer eyes Matsuda's particularly Asian looks suspiciously, "Come on, Sven." I say jokingly as we make our way to the upper decks.

...

Light and Matsuda burst through a door onto the aft wall deck and run across the stairs to the poop deck. They get to the rail and Light joins the crowd in waving and shouting to the people gathered at the dock. "You know somebody?" Matsuda asks, "Of course not, that's not the point!" Light says to him before shouting once more, "Goodbye! I'll miss you!" Matsuda joins in and waves, shouting in heavily accented English, "Goodbye! I wir-a neva fo-get-a yuu!"

The crowd of cheering well-wishers becomes smaller and smaller as the Titanic gains speed, the impossibly tiny figures wave from the docks till they can no longer be seen.

Light and Matsuda make their way down a narrow corridor with doors lining both sides, chaos surrounds them as people argue over luggage and rooms in several different languages or wander in confusion in the labyrinth of halls, consulting signs and phrase books for translations. They search the numbers on the doors, looking for their berth. When they find it, they go inside, Matsu quickly claiming top bunk as Light introduces himself to the other two men bunking with them. "Hi, I'm Light Yagami." He says, offering his hand in a western handshake gesture, and moves to the next man in the room, "Light Yagami." He repeats, and shakes hands again. He moves to put his pack on his bed and play-punches Matsu. "Var s Sven?" he hears one of the Swedes ask quietly as he walks out the door.

...

Yeah... Well, anyways; 'raggazo mio' means 'my boy' in Italian. 'Var s Sven?' means, wait for it... 'Where's Sven?'. Any kind of review makes me write faster and better, flames ammuse me, and anything else is just awesome, so go on... push the button :)

Oh, and if you're insulted by Matsuda's English accent, go talk to an older Japanese person who didn't learn English in grade school. I don't mean it in a bad way, thats just how it is.


	4. Chapter 4

I eyed the painting I held in front of me, a Monet of water lilies, pondering where to put it in the already ornately decorated sitting room. I stared a bit longer before placing it on a lavish arm chair and returning to the boxes, looking for my personal favorite. "Do you want them all out, Liam?" Wedy, my nurse-maid from birth asks me, "Yes. We need a little bit of colour in this room." I answer quietly, still rummaging thru the many pieces of art. "Are you looking for one in particular?" she asks, used to my detachment by now. "Yes, it had a lot of faces on it…" I trailed off, finding the one I was looking for. "Here it is." I announce, examining the familiar painting lovingly.

"Oh god, not those finger paintings again…" I hear Aiber say from behind me, and opt to ignore him, "they were certainly a waste of money." He continues, and I finally respond, "The difference between Aiber's taste in art and mine is that I have some." I say, still looking at my Picasso. "They're interesting. Like being in a dream." I explain to anyone listening. "There's truth, but no logic." I say as I place the painting reverently upon the mantle. "What's the artists' name?" Wedy asks me. "Hmm… Something Picasso." I say, the full name evading me. "'Something Picasso'?" Aiber says, leaning on the door leading to the covered deck, "He won't amount to a thing. Trust me." He walks away, muttering to his manservant, Mikami, "At least they were cheap."

"It smells so new, doesn't it?" Wedy asks, folding sheets in the bedroom while I stare at my reflection in the mirror as I am preparing for bed, my too-thin form and porcelain skin makes me look sickly. I barely hear as Wedy continues her small-talk, "Just to think that when I crawl in bed tonight I'll be the first-"

"and when I crawl in bed tonight, I'll still be the first" Aiber interrupts, gazing at me wearing nothing but underclothes. Wedy blushes at his innuendo, and excuses herself. "The first and only. Forever." He says, placing his hands on my naked shoulders in an act of pure possession. I school my expression, trying not to show how bleak a prospect this is for me.

...

"_At Cherbourg, a woman came aboard named Misami Amane. We all called her Misa, but history would come to call her the Unsinkable Misa Amane. Her husband had struck gold somewhere out west, and she was what mother called 'new money'._

_By the next afternoon we were steaming west, off the coast of Ireland, nothing out ahead of us but ocean…"_

...

The ship glows with the warm creamy light of late afternoon. Light and Matsu stand right at the bow, gripping the curving railing as they stare out to sea. "I can see the Statue of Liberty already." Matsuda says and Light laughs, "very small of course." He admonishes, describing with his thumb and fore-finger exactly how small.

Light smiles, enjoying the breeze in his hair and the salty smell of the ocean, and leans over, looking down fifty feet to where the prow cuts the surface of the cold, north Atlantic water like a knife, sending up two glassy sheets of water.

...

"She is the largest moving object ever made by the hand of man in all history." Mr. Ruvie brags in his English accent, his voice grating on my already frayed nerves. We had been invited to have an elite tour of the ship by the engineer himself, and brunch as well, because of Aiber's incredible inability to understand that _money does not impress me_.

"…And our master shipbuilder here, Mr. Wammy, designed her from the keel plates, up." He indicates a greying man in his late forties with a humble smile on his face. My attention is drawn to him as he turns the compliment away.

"Well, I may have knocked her together, but the idea was Mr. Ruvie's." he says, with light Irish inflection, trying to divert attention from himself. "He envisioned a steamer so grand in scale, and so luxurious in its appointments, that its supremacy would never be surpassed. And here she is," he slaps the table, "willed into solid reality."

"Why are ships always being called 'she'?" Misa asks "Is it because men believe half the women around have big sterns and should be weighed in tonnage?" she reasons, looking to Mr. Ruvie. The table erupts in a giggle, though I can tell by looking she had meant it in a serious manner. She looks directly at me and says quietly, "Just another example of these power-hungry men setting rules their way." I give her a small, but genuine, smile as the waiter arrives for our orders. I pull a cigarette and filter from my coat pocket when my mother and Aiber are distracted, and light up as I listen to Aiber order for me.

"L, you know I don't like that..." My mother admonishes quietly. I look at her dully and exhale in her face, reveling in her absoloutly scandalized expression.

"He knows." Aiber says, taking the cylinder from the filter and putting it in my water. How rude.

"We'll have the lamb." He says dismissively, not even polite enough to look at the man, "Rare. With very little mint sauce." And looks to me after he departs, asking, "You like lamb, right L?"

Misa, who had been observing the dynamic between us, says "Will you be cutting his meat for him too, Aiber?" in an irritated tone, then turns her attention before he can respond, "So," she continues, "who thought of the name 'Titanic'?" she asks, looking around the table, "Was it you, Roger?" she asks with a nod to Mr. Ruvie.

"Yes, actually," he answers, covering his mouth to swallow his food before continuing, "I wanted to convey sheer _size_, and size means: stability, luxury, and, above all, _strength_." He goes to continue, but I interrupt him.

"Do you know of Dr. Freud, Mr. Ruvie?" I ask, looking directly at him, my amusement not apparent in my monotone and blank expression, "His ideas about the male preoccupation with size may be of particular interest to you."

Misa nods her head, laughing loudly and Mr. Wammy covers his mouth with a napkin to hide his ammusement.

"My God!" my mother gasps at me with a disbelieving look on her face, "Liam! What's gotten into—?"

"Excuse me." I say before she can continue, and rise to go to the outside viewing decks.

"I do apologize…" I hear my mother say.

"He's a pistol, Aiber," Misa quips, "Sure you can handle him?"

"Well, I may have to start minding what he reads after all." I hear Aiber say rudely before they are out of earshot and I can get the fresh air I wanted. I walk out onto the promenade and lean against the railings, pondering my cosmic unimportance.

...

I sit on a bench in the sun on the great ship, my leather-bound sketching pad, my most valuable possession, out on my lap as I draw a man holding his young daughter up at the railing of the ship with one of my conte crayons. She leans back against her father's beer-belly as he points out seagulls flying about the ship to her, and my eyes focus on the scene before me as my hand makes sure strokes against the rough paper of the sketch pad.

"That's typical," an angry voice breaks my concentration and I look up to see the speaker, a scowling Asian man with a fluffy head of black hair, watching as a crewmember walks three small dogs. "First class dogs come down here to take a shit." His scowl worsens and I offer my opinion.

"Ah, shows us where we rank in the scheme of things." I point out, "Like we could forget?" he asks, offering his hand, "Aizawa Shuichi" he says gruffly, "Light Yagami," I reply, accepting the strangely western gesture. I glance over his shoulder as the sun glints off something on the upper deck and my eyes are drawn to the most exotically beautiful person I have ever seen.

I find myself completely unable to take my eyes off him, he reminds me so much of a character in a tragic romantic novel, sad and isolated, and all I want to do is comfort him. We are across from each other, about sixty feet apart, but I feel as if I am right next to an angel.

I examine the first-class boys' interesting features. Pristine clothing, a light yellow waistcoat over a white long-sleeved dress shirt and light beige trousers, all of which made his mussed black hair, slightly bohemian in its longer style, like my own, stand out all the more, his pale skin absolutely glowing in the still-rising sun.

"Beautiful." I say aloud without realizing as he turns to look at me, glancing only for a second before looking away, then turning back and staring at me just as unabashedly when I refuse to look away. Our eyes meet across the space of the wall deck, across the gulf between our worlds, and I get lost in the depths of those dark eyes.

He tilts his head in an adorable show of curiosity, and his eyes move, only for a second, to the sketch pad in my lap as a tall blonde man comes from behind and turns him forcibly, red in the face with anger. He grabs the angels arm and attempts to force him back inside, but the raven pulls away. They argue shortly in pantomime before the beautiful raven storms away, disappearing inside. I stare after him as the violent man follows in irritation.

"Ah, forget it, boy-o." I hear Aizawa say, "You're more likely to have angels fly out your ass than get next to the likes of _him._" He says, obviously having noticed my preoccupation. I still stare at the place he disappeared to, hoping to see him again, and I completely miss the sad, pitying smile Aizawa sends my way.


	5. Chapter 5

Never expected this to be as popular as it seems to be. I feel loved, lol. Thank you all.

...

I stare at my plate, disgusted by the food Aiber ordered for me. We are having dinner in the ornately decorated first-class dining parlour, and I hear laughing all around me. I ponder my life and what has become of it. Earlier in the evening, as I was in my quarters staring at one my paintings, Aiber came to my room…

(Flashback)

_I sat on the bench to the vanity, facing towards my Degas of a ballerina mid-spin. I turned as I heard the door to my room open and see the man I loathed standing there arrogantly, like a king._

_I looked away from his smirking face and stared at the painting once again, thinking about the boy from that morning who'd stared so openly at me, looking so enchanted. I wished I could have seen what he had been drawing…_

"_I know you've been melancholy." Aiber said quietly from the door. "I don't pretend to know why." He looks down and moves into my room, I flinched as he walked up behind me. He pulled a large black velvet jewelry case from behind his back and moved to kneel down in front of me. I stared at the box disinterestedly, as I did everything else, and refused to look at Aiber's surely smirking face._

"_I intended to save it for the opening ceremony next week, but I thought… tonight." He said as he opened the box suddenly, I couldn't hold back my gasp of horror, which he took as one of joy I'm sure… _

"_Perhaps this is a reminder of my… feelings for you." Aiber said, trying still to have me look him in the eye._

"_Is it a—?" I began. _

"_Diamond?" he finished for me, "Yes." He said, as if it should have been glaringly obvious. "Fifty-six carats, to be exact." He mentioned as he removed it from the case and went behind me to place it around my neck, turning me towards the mirror. The silver-and-diamond chain went well with my skin and the deep blue diamond set off my pale features perfectly. _

_I hated it immediately._

"_It was worn by Louis the Sixteenth," he said lovingly, gazing at my reflection which stared back at my own eyes blankly, "and it was called 'Le Coeur de le Mer'." He explained. _

"_The Heart of the Ocean." I repeated in English. "It's overwhelming." _

"_It's for royalty, L," he responded, and I despised him for using my beloved nickname, it sounded like poison from his lips, "we _are _royalty." He told me, and knelt once more in front of me._

"_There's nothing I couldn't give you, L." he said, and I finally looked him in the eye, as I had realized what was going on. "There is nothing I'd deny you, if you wouldn't deny me." The lust was obvious in his eyes as well as in his words. He wanted my body. "Open your heart to me, L…" he said, placing a hand on my cheek. _

_I looked in the mirror again at the necklace. I didn't hate it so much anymore. It was like me. One of a kind, cold and hard, with things hidden that no one would ever see…_

(end flashback)

I'm seeing my whole life as if I've already lived it… an endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches… always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. I feel as if I'm standing on the edge of a great precipice, one leg hanging off, with no one to pull me back. No one who cared, or even noticed.

My grip on the fork I hold under the table tightens, and I poke the small crab fork into the pale skin of my forearm, harder and harder until it draws blood.

I excuse myself from the table, the only person even acknowledging my departure being Mr. Wammy.

I walk along the ships corridors, smiling at stewards who nod as they pass me, my mask not slipping a bit till I get to my rooms.

I stand in the middle of the room for a while, staring at my reflection in the large vanity mirror. I walk closer to it slowly, observing my cautionary movements in the glass, before running forward and knocking the vanity over with all my strength. I start grabbing anything I can reach, throwing it all in random directions. I stare at the disaster that is my room and run out, as fast as I can, along the B deck promenade.

I shove past people, not caring any longer about social appearances. Not one person stops me to ask what is wrong, although I am clearly disheveled; hair flying everywhere and my face streaked with tears.

...

I lay kicked back on one of the many benches on the stern deck, staring up at the stars blazing gloriously overhead as I take a lazy drag from my cigarette.

Hearing something, I turn as the beautiful boy from this morning runs passed, quiet sobs issuing from his mouth. He doesn't see me in his rush, so I rise to follow him, curious to why he is crying and wanting to comfort the angel.

I follow him quietly across the deserted fantail. His breath hitches in occasional sobs, which he suppresses. I watch as he slams against the base of the stern flagpole and clings to it, panting, before walking ahead to the white-painted railing. He starts to climb over, and I approach slowly, not wanting to startle him into letting go.

He is facing toward the water now, his back toward the railing, facing out to the blackness of night as he looks down into the vortex the propellers create sixty feet below. He leans further, and I panic.

"Don't do it…"

He whips his head around in surprise at the sound of my voice, his beautiful grey eyes glassy with unshed tears.

"Stay back!" he says, "Don't come any closer!"

Although I am mesmerized by his smooth baritone voice, the adrenaline in my system forces me to focus. I see the tear streaks on his face in the faint glow from the stern running lights.

"Take my hand," I offer, sticking it out towards him, "I'll pull you back in." I say, praying he will come to his senses and accept.

"No!" he shouts, "Stay where you are… I mean it. I'll let go…" he threatens. I hold out my burnt-out cigarette, motioning to throw it over the railing. He nods and I move a couple steps closer to the suicidal raven.

"No you won't." I say, keeping up the conversation.

"What do you mean, 'no I won't'?" he asks indignantly, "Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do! You don't _know_ me!"

"You would have done it already." I reason, "Now come on, take my hand." I say, still holding it out to him, much closer now than before.

He glares at my hand and faces back to the abyss. "Go away." He demands, "You're distracting me."

I look at him softly, although he can't see. "I can't." I say, "I'm involved now. If you let go, I'll just have to jump in after you." I say with conviction.

He looks at me like I've lost my mind.

"Don't be absurd, you'll be killed." He says unconvinced, looking at me now as I remove my jacket.

"I'm a good swimmer" I say, unlacing my left shoe.

"The fall alone would kill you…" he sounds less sure this time as he attempts to reason with me.

"It would hurt." I tell him, removing my left shoe, "I'm not saying it wouldn't. To be honest, I'm a lot more concerned about the water being so cold." I say, beginning to unlace my other shoe.

He looks down, the reality of it all finally sinking in as he asks "How cold?" in such a quiet voice I almost can't hear him.

"Freezing." I say, removing the other shoe, "Maybe a couple degrees over." I reason as I look down at the churning water, leaning on the railing now, prepared to grab him should he release. "Ever been to New York State?" I ask, thoroughly confusing him.

"What?" he asks, perplexed.

"Well they have some of the coldest winters around. I grew up there, around Niagara falls." I say, looking out into the blackness of the ocean. "Once, when I was a kid, my father and I went ice-fishing out on Lake Ontario." I look at him and see his still-confused face. "Ice-fishing is where you—"

"I _know_ what 'ice-fishing' is!" he defends vehemently.

"Sorry…" I say, surprised at the emotion in his voice, "You just look like kind of an… indoor guy…" I explain, and he looks back toward the water, so I quickly distract him. "Anyway, I fell thru some thin ice, and I'm tellin' ya, water that cold, _like right down there,_" I say, looking directly in his eyes now, "it hits you like a thousand knives, stabbing you all over your body. You can't breathe, can't think… at least not about anything but the pain." We both turn to the churning deadly waters below, "which is why I'm not looking forward to jumping in after you. But like I said…" I pull the straps of my suspenders down now, letting them hang at my hips, "I don't have a choice." I look at his beautiful face hopefully, "I guess I'm kinda hoping you'll come back over the rail and let me off the hook here…" I give him a crooked smile and he stares at me incredulously.

"You're crazy…" is all he says, still looking at me.

"That's what everybody says," I tell him, "but with all due respect, I'm not the one hanging off the back of a ship here." I move closer to him and offer my hand again. "Come on." I prompt, "you don't want to do this… give me your hand."

He stares at me for a long time, his eyes so deep, it feels like he's staring into my soul.

"Alright." He finally agrees, and takes my hand, turning to face me carefully. I hold his hand in mine and smile at him.

"I'm Light Yagami." I say, holding him steady.

"Liam Lawliet… I prefer L." He tells me.

"Nice to meet you, L." I say and he laughs. He moves to take a step onto the railing and his slickened leather shoes cause him to lose his footing, he shrieks and fumbles to grab my hand more firmly. "I've got you." I assure him, using both hands to hold onto him as he grabbed for the railing with his free hand. "I'll never let go." I promise him, "Now pull yourself up!" I urge, getting fatigued from holding his weight, even though it was minimal.

He began using his free hand to pull himself up, me pulling along. Once he got close enough I wrapped my arms around his tiny waist, pulling him back over the railing, both of us falling to the ground panting, myself on top of the immensely relieved L.

I lift myself up to ask L if he is ok, he nods, the blush on his face deepening as he notices the position we are in.

"what's all this!" I hear and look towards the voice. It is a burly officer glaring at me with disgust. He grabs me by the back of my shirt, hauling me away from L with ease as two other officers arrive. They look at L now sitting up on the deck, face streaked with tears and clothing rumpled, his dress shirt half untucked, and then to me, the shaggy steerage man with my jacket off, and they draw their own conclusions.

"Fetch the Master at Arms!" the large man holding me orders them, and they obey immediately.

...

Couldn't find a good place to stop. Is L starting to sound too much like a wine-y teenager? Hope not. Tell me what you think :)

Anyways, this is the last chapter I have on reserve, so it'll be about a week before the next one is up.


	6. Chapter 6

Continued directly from previous.

…

Moments later, Light is being detained by the Master at Arms, the closest thing to a cop on board, handcuffs being snapped onto his wrists. I sit shivering on a bench, wrapped in a blanket and in shock. I can't believe I almost committed _suicide_. I am not that weak!

Aiber rushes out and runs straight for Light, grabs him by the lapels and shouts, "What made you think you could put your hands on him?"

Light's eyes find mine and I see the question in his eyes.

"Look at _me _you filth! What did you think you were doing?"

Aiber looks rabid, and Light is leaning back to avoid the saliva issuing from his mouth.

"Aiber, stop!" I shout, "It was an _accident._"

That seemed to do the trick, because he released Light and turned his enraged face on me.

"An _accident_?" he questions in disbelief.

"It was…" I deadpan, glancing at Light for a moment, "Stupid, really. I was leaning over and I slipped"

Aiber glares at me expectantly. Apparently I have to do better than that.

"I was leaning far over to see the… uh… the propellers." I explain shakily, "And I slipped. I would've gone overboard, but Mr. Yagami here _saved_ me, and nearly went over himself."

I glance at Light, unable to read him as he takes in my lie.

"Propellers." Aiber says, apparently fixated on that. I nod.

"He wanted to see the _propellers_." He tells the other men, laughing now.

"Like I said!" Mr. Ruvie cuts in drunkly, "Femininity and machinery _do not mix_."

"Was that the way of it?" the Master at Arms questions Light, all the while I plead with my eyes.

"Uh, yeah." he lies smoothly, "That was pretty much it." He stares at me a moment longer, those piercing eyes seeing right thru me.

"Well, the boys a hero then," Mr. Wammy pats him on the back as he's being un-cuffed, "good for you, son, well done." he says kindly.

"So its all's well, and back to our brandy, eh?" Mr. Ruvie says.

I stand to say a final thank you to Light while he rubs his sore wrists, but Aiber approaches and stands in my way, rubbing my arms.

"You're freezing, let's get you inside." he says, forcefully turning and leading me away without a second thought for my savior.

We hear the clearing of a throat behind us and he turns us to see Mr. Wammy. He leans forward and says, "Perhaps a little something for the boy?" in a hushed voice.

Aiber smiles, and I can tell it's fake. "Of course. Mr. Mikami? A twenty should do it." he says to his manservant.

"Hmm. I suppose that's the going rate for saving the man you claim to love." I mumble boredly, observing the shocked faces of everyone… except Light. Interesting.

"L is displeased… What to do?"

He turns to Light and appraises him condescendingly, only seeing a steerage ruffian, unwashed and ill-mannered.

"I know… Perhaps you could join us for dinner tomorrow, to… regale our group with your _heroic_ tale?

"Sure," Light says, and I see the challenge in his amber eyes, "Count me in."

"Good man," Aiber turns, putting a protective arm around me. I hear him mumble something to Mr. Ruvie as we retreat inside.

…

After observing the dynamic between L and his… _escort, _I just can't help but understand why he wanted to end it all.

I turn to see the man's lacky lighting up a cigarette.

"Hey, can I bum a smoke?" I ask after putting on my shoes. He removes the silver case from his jacket and pops it open. I take a cigarette, then another, storing it behind my ear for later. He lights the one between my lips, scowling at me all the while.

"You'll want to tie those." he says, indicating my shoes. "Interesting that the young man slipped so suddenly, and you still had time to remove your jacket _and _your shoes."

His expression is bland, but his eyes are like ice before he turns to join his group.

…

I glance around self-consciously as I walk into the third class general room. This seems to be the social center of steerage life. It's stark in comparison to the opulence of first class, but is a loud, boisterous place. There are mothers with babies, kids running between benches yelling in various languages, their mothers scolding them in just as many tongues. I see old men playing chess, girls doing needlepoint and reading dime novels. I'm surprised to see the person I'm searching for sitting on a piano bench behind an old upright, teaching a young girl to play something.

The room slowly becomes more quiet as I make my way towards them. Light glances up and I give him a small smile. His eyes widen momentarily, saying something to the little girl before rising to greet me.

"Hello, Light." I say quietly.

"Hello again, L…" he says, eyes dancing with amusement at my discomfort.

"Could I speak with you privately?" I ask, feeling the stares burning thru me.

"Uh… yes. Of course, after you." he motions me ahead and follows, we walk out together, leaving behind a stunned silence.

We walk along the upper deck side by side, passing people who glance curiously at our mismatched coupling. We're both awkward, sending small furtive glances at one another.

"So… We gonna just walk miles around this boat deck in silence?" Light asks, giving me the most attractive smile I think I've ever seen. There is another awkward pause.

"Mr. Yagami, I-"

"Light." he corrects me, and I look up to see him looking softly into my eyes.

"Light…" I whisper, before snapping out of my daze, "I feel like such an idiot… it took me all morning to get up the nerve to face you." I explain.

"Well, here you are." he smiles.

"Indeed, here I am… I wanted to thank you for what you did. Not just for… pulling me back, but for your discretion.

"You're welcome, L." He says sincerely, and I can't prevent the flow of words and emotion from bubbling to the surface.

"Look, I know what you must be thinking; 'poor little rich boy, what does _he _know about misery?'" I snarl, leaning on a railing on a deserted part of the ship, scowling at the beautiful sunset. He stops as well, leaning casually with his back to the water.

"No, that's not what I was thinking." He says, "What I was thinking was, 'what could have _happened _to hurt this boy so much that he thought he had no way out?'"

"I don't… It wasn't just one thing." I exasperate, showing an unnatural amount of emotion for my usual stoic self. "It was everything… My whole world, and all the people in it. And the inertia of my life, plunging ahead! And me? Powerless to stop it…" I sigh as I hold up the rather large diamond ring I keep hidden in my pocket.

"Whoa, you would've gone _straight_ to the bottom…" he comments, observing the ostentatious piece of metal.

"I felt trapped in it all… like an insect in amber." I continue in a rush, "I just had to get away… just run and run and run, and then I was at the back rail, and there was no more ship. Not even the Titanic was big enough to escape them…"

"Do you love him?" he asks suddenly.

"Pardon me?" I ask, looking to the other mans' face once more.

"Do you love him." he repeats.

"You're being very rude..."

"It's an easy question, do you love the guy or not?"

He's grinning again now, entertained.

"This is not a suitable conversation!" I explain angrily, " I don't know you, and you don't know me, and we are _not _having this conversation."

"Why can't you just answer the question?" he laughs.

I straiten up, looking directly into his eyes, "You are rude and uncouth and _presumptuous_, and I am leaving now." I offer him a handshake, "Light, _Mr. Yagami_, I sought you out to thank you, and now I _have _thanked you."

"And you've insulted me." he says, his eyes still shining with mirth.

"Well you _deserved_ it…" I defend, still shaking his hand.

"I thought you were leaving."

"_I am._" I say, releasing his hand, "You are so _annoying!" _I sigh, turning to retreat before realizing something and turning back to face him.

"Actually, I don't have to leave. This is _my _side of the ship. _You _leave."

I never knew I could sound so arrogant…

"_Now _who's being rude?" he asks, gesturing towards me with the pad of paper I remember seeing on his lap the first time I'd seen him. I reach forward and childishly snatch it from his hands.

"What is this stupid thing you're carrying about…" i mumble and flip to a random page, only to be greeted with one of the most professional drawings I had ever seen. I could almost feel the emotions the people in the sketch were experiencing.

"These are rather good." I say as I turn to sit on one of the many lounge chairs lining the spacious deck. "They're _very _good…"

I look up to see the artist sitting across from me, a modest smile on his face.

"Light, this is exquisite work." I tell him seriously, flipping through a few more sketches, observing his obvious eye for detail.

"Well, they didn't think too much of 'em in old Pari." he admonishes, waving his hand dismissively.

"Paris?" I inquire, "You sure do get around… for a po-, uh… that is, I mean to say, a person of… _limited _means.."

"Go on, a poor guy, you can say it." he laughs. I feel my face heat slightly as I come to a series of nudes. I observe them, becoming transfixed with the languid beauty he has created. His nudes are soulful, _real_, with expressive hands and eyes. They feel more like portraits than studies of the human form… its almost uncomfortably intimate.

"And these were… drawn from life?" I ask, trying to be adult.

"Yup. That's one of the great things about Paris. Lots of girls willing to take their clothes off."

I nod and study one in particular, the girl is posed half in sunlight, half in shadow. Her hands lie at her chin, one furled and one open like a flower, languid and graceful.

"You liked this woman." I comment, "you used her several times."

"Well, you see," he pulls the drawing between us to show what he's talking about, "She had very beautiful hands." he runs his hands lightly over the charcoal, careful to not smudge it.

"I think you must've had a love affair with her…" I smile.

He looks at me with shock, then laughs.

"No… Just with her hands. She was a one legged prostitute." he turns the page to a full-body sketch of her, "See?"

"Oh…" I examine it for a moment, before turning my eyes to its creator.

"You have a gift Light. You do." I smile, getting more serious, "You _see _people."

"I see you." he says, and that piercing gaze returns, making me feel like we're the only two people in the world.

"And…?" I ask.

"You wouldn't have jumped."

...

Had to split this one in two... it was like 4,000 words. Happy Christmas :)


	7. Chapter 7

I just seem to be spewing these chapters out... Anyways, thanks for the reviews :) they're keeping me working. Helps that I don't sleep much I suppose...

...

L gazes at the sunset as we stroll aft, past people lounging on deck chairs in the slanting late-afternoon light.

L sighs and looks at me with those charcoal eyes.

"You know, my dream has always been to just chuck it all and become an artist… living in a garret, poor but free!" he says animatedly, eyes glowing.

"You wouldn't last two days." I say honestly, "there's no hot water, and hardly _any_ caviar."

He's angry in a flash, glaring and hateful.

"Listen, _you…_ I hate caviar! And I'm so tired of people dismissing my dreams with a chuckle and a pat on the head."

"I'm sorry." I say, receiving a withering glare, "Really… I am."

"Alright…"he smiles again, sighing. "There's something in me, Light. I feel it. I don't know what it is, whether I should be an artist, or a dancer… like Isadora Duncan! A wild pagan spirit…"

I smile, enjoying his excitement, observing his face painted with the orange sunset. We lean on the A-deck rail, shoulder to shoulder.

It is a magical moment… perfect.

"So after Paris, then what?" he asks.

"Well, I went back home and got a job at a logging company, and when logging got to be too much like work I moved down to the pier in Santa Monica. That's a swell place, they even have a rollercoaster. I sketched portraits there for ten cents a piece." I tell him, noticing how he's hanging on my every word.

"A whole ten cents?" he laughs.

"Yeah; it was great money… I could make a dollar a day, sometimes. But only in summer. When it got cold, I decided to go to England to see what some real artists were doing."

He looks at the dusk sky, sighing, "Why can't I be like you, Light? Just head out for the horizon whenever I feel like it…" He turns to me, almost gazing into my eyes, "Say we'll go, sometime… to that pier, even if we only ever talk about it."

"No, we'll do it." I say, "We'll drink cheap beer, ride the rollercoaster till we puke, and we'll ride horses on the beach… right in the surf." He smiles brightly, "But you have to ride like a real cowboy. None of that side-saddle stuff." I admonish.

"You mean… one leg on each side?" he looks scandalized, and I nod. "Can you teach me?" he asks, embarrassed.

"Sure. If you like."

"Teach me to ride like a man." He says in an American accent.

"And shoot tobacco like a man." I say, doing my best southerner voice.

"And… _spit_ like a man!" he laughs.

"You mean they didn't teach you that in finishing school?" I joke.

"_No_…"

"Well, come on. I'll show you." I lead him up, pulling him gently by the hand, ignoring his protests of "No, Light! I couldn't possibly…"

We reach a good deserted place, and I release his hand.

"Here, it's easy." I spit and he watches, disgusted, as it arcs out over the water.

"Ugh… that's _gross."_

I laugh at the look on his face, placing my hand at the small of his back to push him forward. "Your turn." I tell him, chuckling as he looks around to see if there's any witnesses before screwing up his mouth and spitting, a pathetic little bit of foamy spittle which mostly runs down his chin before falling off into the water.

"That was _pitiful…_ Here, like this… you hock it up…" I do so as I explain, "… then, roll it on your tongue, up to the front, like thith, then a big breath, and- You see the range on that thing?"

He nods, face as serious as if he were studying maths. He goes through the steps, with me coaching him along, and finally he spits.

"Much better. You'll get it."

He turns to me, his face alight for a moment before he blanches. I see his expression and turn to see an older woman that looked almost exactly like L followed by a few more women. L instantly changes, back to the composed, blank façade I'd broken.

"Mother, may I introduce Light Yagami." he says in a careful monotone.

"Charmed, I'm sure." the woman says, looking me up and down, judging me.

"Well, Light, it sounds like you're a good man to have around in a sticky situation." Mrs. Amane says after L tells them I pulled him back.

We all jump suddenly as a bugler sounds the meal call right behind us.

"Why must they always insist on announcing dinner like a damn cavalry charge?" Mrs. Amane exasperates, and L laughs, looking at his mother with a fake smile.

"Shall we go dress mother?" he asks, and as they walk away, he turns to give me a small smile, "See you at dinner, Light."

"Liam, look at you… out in the sun with no hat. Honestly!" I hear his mother scold him as they continue towards their rooms.

"Hon, do you have the slightest comprehension of what you're doing?" Mrs. Amane asks me.

"No, not really." I say honestly, smiling."

"Well you're about to go into the snake pit. Tell me, what are planning to _wear_?"

I look down at my clothes and back up to her. I hadn't thought about that.

"I figured." she smiles, "Come on."

…

I got a panda tobogan for christmas :)


	8. Chapter 8

I'm wondering how to go about the ending, I've got two scenarios planned out, and I want to know which you guys would like to see, or if you'd like to see both. If I end up doing both, the one that doesn't follow along with the original storyline of _Titanic_ will be posted as a separate fic. Also, whos POV to do the lemon in? Please, give me your suggestions and input. Thanks :)

If you'd like a rough draft of either ending, or have any suggestions, email me at blaisebirthday (at) yahoo (dot) com, you know what to do with the shit in parenthesis.

…

Men's suits, jackets, and formal wear are strewn all over the place. Misa is having a fine time, dressing me up like a penguin. We're almost completely done with the whole uncomfortable situation, except for the jacket. Misa is tying my bow tie, laughing at the knot I'd managed to put it in.

"Don't feel bad about it. My father still can't tie one of these damn things after twenty years." I nod and she pats my chest, "There you go."

She picks the jacket up and hands it to me, standing back to see the finished work.

"My… You shine up like a new penny." she tells me, "well, go on."

…

I walk to the first class entrance, admiring the purple sky, shot with bits of orange in the west. As I come to the opulent doors, a steward bows and welcomes me.

I play the role smoothly, nodding with just the right degree of disdain.

I step inside and my breath is taken away by the splendor.

Overhead is an enormous glass dome, with a crystal chandelier at its center, and sweeping down what looks like six stories is the First Class Grand Staircase, the epitome of opulent naval architecture.

And the _people…_ the women in their floor-length dresses, elaborate hairstyles and abundant jewelry, the gentlemen in evening dress, one hand at the small of the back, talking quietly.

I descend the stairs, several men nodding in a perfunctory greeting. I nod back, keeping it simple. I almost feel like a spy…

I notice Aiber descending the stairs with L's mother on his arm, covered in jewelry. They both walk right past me, neither seeming to recognize me. Aiber even nods, but I barely have time to be amused, because just behind Aiber and Eve on the stairs is L, a vision in red and black.

I'm hypnotized by his beauty.

I imitate the gentleman's stance, hand behind my back as he extends a gloved hand as if for a handshake, instead I raise it to my mouth, kissing the back of his fingers. He flushes, beaming at me.

"I saw that in a nickelodeon once, and I always wanted to do it." I explain, grinning and releasing his hand as we stroll toward Aiber and his mother.

"Aiber, surely you remember Mr. Yagami?" L asks.

He does a double take, caught off guard by my appearance, "Yagami? I didn't recognize you!" he smiles, fake and unconvincing, "Amazing! You could almost pass for a gentleman…"

"Almost." I say, smirking.

…

"Care to escort a lady to dinner?" I hear from behind us and turn to see Misa. Light accepts her arm and we all walk towards the dining room.

"Ain't nothing to it, is there Light?" she asks in a hushed tone.

"Yeah, just dress like a pallbearer and keep your nose up…" I hear him mutter.

"Remember, the only thing they care about is money, so just act like you own a gold mine and you're in the club." she whispers before leaving to chat with someone else.

As we enter the swirling throng, I lean close to him, pointing out several notables.

"There's the Countess Rothes. And there's John Jacob Astor… the richest man on the ship. His little wifey there, Madeline, is my age and in delicate condition. See how she's trying to hide it?" I whisper, indicating her slightly swollen abdomen, "Quite the scandal."

I nod toward another couple, "Over there, that's Sir Cosmo and Lucile, Lady Duff-Gordon. She designs naughty lingerie, amoung her many talents. _Very _popular with the Royals... and that's Benjamin Guggenheim and his mistress, Madame Aubert. Mrs. Guggenheim is at home with the children, of course."

We walk around a bit more, chatting occasionally. He plays his part well, for the most part.

"J.J., Madeline, I'd like you to meet Light Yagami." I introduce, as fake-polite as anyone else here.

"Good to meet you, Light." Astor shakes his hand, "Tell me, are you of the Boston Yagamis?"

"No, the Niagara Falls Yagamis actually." he corrects smoothly.

I can tell he's nervous, but he hasn't faltered. They assume he's one of them, heir to a railroad fortune, perhaps. New money, obviously, but still a member of the club. My Mother though… well, she could always be counted on.

"Tell us of the accommodations in steerage, Mr. Yagami," she says as we take our seats, "I hear they're quite good on this ship."

"The best I've seen, ma'am." he counters, "Hardly any _rats._"

I motion quickly for him to remove his napkin from his plate.

"Mr. Yagami is joining us from the third class. He was of some assistance to my partner last night." Aiber explains, then turns to Light and speaks as if to a child, "This is _foie gras. _It's goose liver."

I notice whispers being exchanged, and Light becomes the subject of furtive glances.

A waiter approaches Light, wanting his order, "How do you take your caviar sir?" he asks.

"Just a soupcon of lemon." Aiber says dismissively, and smiles at Light, "It improves the flavor with champagne."

"No caviar for me, thanks." Light answers, never taking his eyes off Aiber's smug expression, "Never did like it much."

He turns to me, pokerfaced, and I smile.

"Where exactly do you live, Mr. Yagami?" Mother asks as salad is served.

"Well, right now my address is the RMS Titanic. After that, I'm on god's good humour.

He reaches for the fish fork, and I give him a look and pick up the salad fork, prompting him with my eyes until he switches.

"And you find that sort of rootless existence _appealing_, do you?" Mother scowls.

"Well… yes ma'am, I do." he says, "You can't wait around, because you never know what hand you're gonna get dealt next. See, my folks died when I was young, and I've been on the road ever since. Something like that teaches you to take life as it comes at you. To make each day count."

"I propose a toast," I raise my glass at this, "To making it count." I say, gazing into his eyes as he stares back, everyone repeats the sentiment and takes a sip of champagne.

"And how is it that you have means to travel?" Mother continues her interrogation, ignoring the surprised glances.

"I work my way from place to place." He says easily, "Tramp steamers and such. I won my ticket on Titanic here in a lucky hand at poker." a flicker of his eyes towards me, "a _very _lucky hand."

I smile and nod, seeing him from a whole new perspective.

"Next it'll be brandies in the Smoking Room." I whisper to him a little later.

"Well… Join me for a brandy gentlemen?" Mr. Ruvie rises to ask, proving me right.

"Now they retreat into a cloud of smoke and congratulate each other on being Masters of the Universe." I joke.

"Joining us, boys?" Ruvie asks us, "You don't want to stay out here with the _women_ do you?"

"No thanks, I'm heading back." Light sighs.

"Probably best." Aiber nods, "it'll be all business and politics, that sort of thing. Wouldn't interest you." he says as they depart.

"Light… Must you go?" I mope, staring pitifully into his eyes.

"Time for me to go row with the other slaves…" he mutters before taking my hand as he had before. I feel a piece of folded paper touch my now bare palm as he raises my fingers to his lips.

I stare after him as he walks away, quietly unfolding the small piece of paper, reading his message.

_'Make it count. Meet me at the clock.'_

_..._

AN: I didn't feel too good about this one. I guess it just felt kinda hurried. Anyways, feedback is appreciated, and let me know if you want me to reply to your review.  
>-B<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

Wow… I really let this go… Um… Sorry? I had stuff going on that was a tad more important. I will finish, it just may take a while. I really hope you guys will stick it out.

On another note, I'm going to try to keep each chapter in one POV, the switches seem to be happening too often. Anyways, give feedback, tell me what you think. I'm thinking of switching to third person omniscient. I'm trying it out in this chapter, tell me if you like it or if I need to stick to first person.

…

L crosses the A-deck foyer, seeing Light at the landing above, he has his back to him, studying the ornate clock with it's carved figures of Honour and Glory. It softly strikes the hour as L goes up the sweeping staircase toward him. He turns, sees him, and smiles mischievously.

"So, L… Are you ready to go to a _real _party?"

…

The third class general room is like L remembers it, crowded and alive with music, laughter, and raucous carrying on. An ad hoc band is gathered near the old upright piano, honking out lively stomping music on fiddle, accordion, tambourine, and bag pipes. People of all ages are dancing, drinking beer and wine, smoking, laughing, even brawling.

Aizawa hands L a pint of stout and he chugs it, watching Light dancing with the young girl he'd been teacing piano to, laughing at how the child stands on his feet. As the tune ends, L leans down to the little girl,

"May I cut in, miss?" he asks sweetly, already feeling the effects of the alcohol.

Light's eyes shine as he looks at L, and he notices the pout on Sayu's face.

"You're still my best girl, Sayu." he tells the child and she scampers off. L and Light face each other, L is trembling as Light takes L's right hand in his left. His other hand slides to the small of the younger mans back, it is an electrifying moment, and the two are locked in each others gaze for a time, until L speaks.

"I don't know the steps…" he whispers shakily.

"Just move with me. Don't think."

The music begins and they are off, albeit awkwardly at first. L starts to get into it, he grins at Light as he starts to het the rhythm of the steps.

"Wait… Stop for a moment." L says breathlessly, and bends down, removing his accursed socks and shoes. Sighing, he flings them to Aizawa. Grabbing Light, he plunges into the fray, dancing faster as the music speeds up. The steps are fast and both young men shine with sweat. A space opens around them, and people watch, clapping as the band plays faster and faster. They spin, laughing and looking into one another's eyes.

The tune ends in a mad rush, L and Light slow to a stop before separating in a flourish, both taking a bow and giggling. Exhilarated and rather drunk, L does a graceful ballet plover, bare feet turned out perfectly. Everyone laughs and applauds as they make their way to a table, flushed and sweaty. L grabs Matsuda's cigarette and takes a big drag, feeling cocky. Matsuda grins, holding hands with a young Swedish woman.

"How're you two doing?" Light asks, smiling.

"I don't know what she say, she don't know what I say, so we get on fine." Matsuda answers, handing them both a pint. L chugs his, showing off. Light stares, wide eyed.

"What? You think a first class boy can't drink?" L asks cockily.

Everyone is dancing again, and a man bumps into Light, who sloshes his drink all over L's satin shirt. L laughs, not caring, but the man lunges at Light. Drunk and feeling brave, L quickly flips onto his hands and kicks the man in the face, his training in capoeira finally coming in handy. The man crashes against a table and stares at L who moves forward to grasp his collar.

"You think you're a big tough man? Lets see you do that." he says, and releases him, stumbling backward, dizzy from the exertion. Light catches him as he looses his balance and turns it into a dip.

"I haven't done that in years…" L laughs, grasping Lights shoulders and leaning his head back, exposing his pale neck. Light leans down to smell him, taking in his wonderful scent.

The door to the well deck is open a few inches as Mikami watches them through the gap. He sees Light holding L, seemingly kissing his neck, and L laughing drunkenly. He closes the door and leaves to report to Aiber.

…

The stars blaze overhead, so bright and clear you can see the whole Milky Way. L and Light walk along the rows of lifeboats. Still giddy from the party, they walk along, singing a popular song.

"Come Josephine in my flying machine, and it's up she goes! Up she goes! In the air she goes. Where? There she goes!" they both sing, fumbling the words and breaking down laughing. They've reached the First Class Entrance, but they don't part immediately, not wanting the evening to end. Through the doors the sounds of the ship's orchestra wafts gently. L grabs a davit and leans back, staring at the cosmos.

"Isn't it magnificent?" L asks, going to the rail and leaning against it.

"They're such small people, Light… my crowd. They think they're giants on the earth, but they're not even dust in relief to the universe. They live inside this tiny champagne bubble… and someday, the bubble's going to burst."

Light leans against the rail next to him, his hand just touching L's. it is the slightest contact imaginable, and all either one of them can feel is that square inch of skin where their hands are touching.

"You're not one of them." Light whispers, "There's been a mistake."

"A mistake?"

"Uh huh. You got mailed to the wrong address." he tells him.

"I did, didn't I?" L laughs, still looking at the sky. "Look! A shooting star!" he points suddenly.

"That was a long one." Light comments, "My father used to say that whenever you saw one, it was a soul going to heaven." Light told him, smiling at the memory.

"I like that." L says and turns to question him, "Aren't we supposed to wish on it?"

Light looks at him, and suddenly finds that they are very close together. It would be so easy to move another couple of inches, to kiss him. L seems to be thinking the same thing.

"What would you wish for?" Light asks, his breath mingling with L's and fanning across his lips. After a moment, L looks away for a second and pulls back.

"Something I can't have." he smiles sadly, "Goodnight, Light. And thank you." he leaves the rail and hurries through the First Class Entrance.

"L!" Light shouts after him and begins to follow, but the door bangs shut and he is gone. Back to his world.

...

Okay, sorry about the wait. I had a pregnancy scare with a friend of mine, and it made me realise I actually do want kids, and alot of other stuff went on that was complicated, and you all probably don't really care, but there's my excuse. Leave feedback, tell me how you feel about the POV thing.  
>-B<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Well here's chapter 10... the kiss and the drawing are in the next chapter, and I'm kinda freaking out over it. It has to be really perfect... so it may be like a week before I get it right.

* * *

><p>Sunday, April 14th dawns a bright, clear day. Sunlight splashes against the promenade where L and Aiber are having breakfast in silence. The tension is palpable as Wedy, in her maid's uniform, pours the coffee and goes inside.<p>

"I had hoped you would come to me last night." Aiber says as L adds cube after cube of sugar to his coffee.

"I was tired." he says without pause or eye contact.

"Yes, your exertions below decks were no doubt exhausting." the blond man sneers. L stiffens visibly, turning his eyes to the bane of his existence, burning anger unhidden.

"I see you had that undertaker of a manservant follow me."

"You will never behave like that again, Liam. Do you understand?" Aiber threatens, glaring at the dark haired boy.

"I'm not a foreman in one of your mills that you can command! I am your partner!" L shouts. Aiber explodes, sweeping the breakfast china off the table with a crash. He move to L in one shocking moment, glowering over him and gripping the sides of his chair so he is trapped, pressing his back against the chair.

"My partner… Yes! You are! And my wife! My wife in practice, if not by law! So you will honour me as a wife is _required_ to honour a husband! I will not be made a fool! Is this in any way unclear?"

L shrinks further into the chair, staring into the eyes of this crazed man calling him his _wife._ He sees Wedy, frozen in the doorway holding the orange juice. Aiber follows his gaze and straightens up. He stalks past the maid, entering the stateroom.

"We… had a little accident." L says, kneeling to clean up the shattered china, "I'm sorry, Wedy, I'll help you." He feels a soft hand on his and looks up into Wedy's understanding eyes.

"It's okay, L. It's okay." She whispers as if to a crying baby.

L breaks down and sobs into her blouse, comforted by the familiarity of her hand running through his hair.

…

"Liam!" L hears from his suite, he knows it is his mother and she is most definitely not a patient woman, so he places the book he'd been enjoying on the nightstand and goes to assist her. He walks in to see Wedy tying up his mothers corset.

"Wedy, leave." Eve orders unkindly.

L moves to finish tying the strings of her underclothes. The tight bindings don't inhibit her fury at all.

"You are not to see that boy again, Liam, do you understand me? I forbid it."

L has his knee at the base of his mother's back and is pulling the corset strings with both hands angrily, tightening them more than he should.

"Oh stop it mother, you'll give yourself a nosebleed." he sneers.

Eve pulls away from him and crosses to the door, locking it.

"This is not a game, Liam! Our situation is precarious. You know the money's gone!" she whispers angrily, gesturing wildly.

"Of course I know its gone. You remind me every day." L tells her, motioning for her to turn around.

"Your father left us nothing but a legacy of bad debts hidden by a good name. that name is the only card we have to play." her eyes are begging him, he turns her gently and grabs the corset strings again. Eve sucks in her waist and L pulls.

I don't understand you… It's a fine match with Morello, it will insure our survival."

L turns to her, and sees the naked fear in his mothers eyes.

"Do you want to see me working as a seamstress? Is that what you want? To see our fine things sold at auction? Our memories… scattered to the winds…" she sobs once and looks up at him accusatorily, "My god, Liam, how can you be so selfish?"

"_I'm _being selfish?" L walks away and crosses his arms, willing his eyes to hold the tears. He feels so hurt and lost. "How can you put this on my shoulders? It isn't fair." he mumbles.

"Of course it's unfair… L, when it comes to preserving our lives, the choices are never easy." she turns him and faces toward the mirror once more.

…

At the divine service, Captain Smith is leading a group in a hymn, L and his mother stand in the middle of the group, Eve singing and L standing silently, eyes to the floor. Mikami stands well back, keeping an eye on L. he notices a commotion at the entry doors. Light is there, being halted by two stewards. Dressed in his ratty clothes, hat in hand, looking very out of place.

"You're not supposed to be here." one steward tells him, placing a hand on his arm in warning.

"I was just here last night… don't you remember?" he asks, and seeing Mikami coming toward them, gestures to the man, "He'll tell you."

"Mr. Morello and Mr. Lawliet continue to be most appreciative of your assistance. They asked me to give you this in gratitude-" he offers two crisp twenty dollar bills.

"Look, I don't want your money… I-"

"-and also to remind you that you hold a third class ticket and your presence here is no longer appropriate."

Light sees L staring blankly at the floor over Mikami's shoulder. "Look, I just need to talk to L for a-"

"Gentleman, please see that Mr. Yagami gets back to where he belongs," the dark man says, giving each steward a twenty, "and that he _stays _there."

"Yes, sir." both men say, each grabbing one of Light's arms, "come along, you."

…

Light, walking with determination and followed closely by Aizawa and Matsuda, quickly climbs the steps to B-Deck and steps over the gate separating Third from Second class.

"He's a god among men, there's no denying, but he's in another world, Light-o. Forget him. He's closed the door." Aizawa tries to convince him.

Light moves furtively to the wall below the A-Deck promenade, aft. "It was them. Not L." he glances quickly around the deck and motions for Aizawa to move closer. The older man shakes his head and puts his hands together, crouching down. Light steps into his hands, "Ready? Now." Aizawa shoves upward, boosting him to the next deck, where he scrambles nimbly over the railing, onto the First Class deck.

"He's not being logical, I tell you." Aizawa mumbles.

"Love is'a not logical." Matsuda answers, staring after their love-struck friend.

…

Light sees a man playing with his son, spinning a top with a string. The man's overcoat and hat sit abandoned on a nearby deck chair, Light sneaks around the huge deck crane he'd been hiding behind and calmly picks up the coat and bowler hat. He walks away, sliding his arms into the coat and placing the hat low, covering his face. At a distance, he could pass for one of them.

…

A young man enters the bridge where L and Aiber's crowd are having another tour, skirting around the tour group to hand a Marconigram to the Captain.

"Another ice warning, sir. This ones from the _Baltic_." he says mutedly. L looks at the captain, having overheard the conversation and wanting answers.

"Thank you, son." Captain Smith says, glancing at the message then nonchalantly putting it in his pocket. He notices L's gaze and smiles reassuringly.

"Not to worry, it's quite normal for this time of year. In fact, we're speeding up. I've just ordered the last boilers lit." Smith smiles once more and L's observant eyes don't miss the slight scowl that comes across Mr. Whammy's face as they exit the bridge. Whammy leads the group back from the bridge along the boat deck.

"Mr. Whammy, I did the sum in my head, and with the number of lifeboats multiplied by the capacity you mentioned… forgive me, but it seems there aren't enough for everyone aboard." L said after a moment of silence.

"About half, actually." the white-haired man said, "L, you miss nothing, do you?" he chuckles and gestured to the lifeboats beside them, "In fact, I put in these new type davits, which can hold an extra row of boats inside this one, but it was thought… by some… that the deck would look too cluttered. So I was overruled."

"Waste of deck space as it is," Aiber says, slapping the side of a boat, "on an unsinkable ship."

L scowls at him and Mr. Whammy reassures him, "Sleep soundly young Liam, I have built you a good ship, strong and true. She's got all the lifeboats you need." L nods and they all continue on their tour, L staying in his place in the back of the group.

As they pass boat seven, L feels someone behind him, he turns and a man in a black coat and hat grabs his arm and pulls him into the gymnasium.

"Who-" he begins as the man closes the door behind him, but as the hat is removed, L sees familiar auburn hair and sighs quietly before Light turns around. He looks around the room, realizing they are completely alone.

"Light… this is impossible. I can't see you." he tells him, and feels his shoulders being held in Light's gentle grasp.

"L, you're no picnic… you're a spoiled little brat even, but under that, you're a strong, pure heart, and you're the most astounding person I've ever known, and-"

"Light, I-"

"No, wait. Let me try to get this out. You're amazing… and- Look I know I have nothing to offer you, L. I know that. But I'm involved now… You jump, I jump, remember? I can't turn away without knowing that you're going to be alright.

L holds back the tears he feels coming to his eyes. Light is so open and real… not like anyone he had ever known.

"Well I'm fine… I'll be fine. Really." he assures, giving a fake smile that seems to be more of a grimace.

"Really? Well I don't think so. They've got you _trapped_, L… and you're gonna die if you don't get out. Maybe not right away, 'cause you're strong, but sooner or later, that _fire_ L… that fire inside you is going to burn out."

"It's not up to you to save me, Light."

"You're right." he says with sad eyes, "Only you can do that."

L stares for a moment, then twists out of his grasp. "I have to get back, they'll miss me. Please, Light, for both of us, please… Leave me alone."

* * *

><p>Well, please review. I'm working on 11 today, and hopefully all the Alanis Morissette I've been listening to will pay off and keep me inspired on this. Don't know why Alanis Morissette... but whatever works, I guess.<br>-B


	11. Chapter 11

In the most elegant room on the ship, done in Louis Quince Versailles style, L sits on a divan, a group of women surrounding him. His mother, the Countess Rothes, and Lady Duff-Gordon are taking tea. L is as silent and still as a porcelain figurine as the conversation washes around him. Above the hum of the many voices, he hears his mother speaking.

"Of course, the invitations had to be sent back to the printers, _twice_. And his suit… oh let me tell you what an odyssey _that _has been… L wanted a red undershirt, and it was simply to spite me because he _knows_ I detest the colour…"

L tunes her out and looks around the room, observing all the families. A mother and son sitting across from them, the mother correcting him on his posture and the way he holds his teacup. The boy seems to be trying very hard to please, his expression serious and focused. L pictures that as himself at that age, the relentless conditioning, the pain to becoming an Edwardian gentleman.

He calmly and deliberately turns his teacup over, spilling tea all over his front.

"Oh… Look what I've done." he says monotonously, "Excuse me, please."

…

Titanic steams forward in the dusk light, as if lit by the embers of a giant fire. Light stands right at the apex on the bow railing, his favorite spot. Closing his eyes, he allows the chilly wind clear his head.

He hears L's voice, right behind him…

"Hello, Light."

He turns and L is standing there, white button-down stained with tea.

"I changed my mind." he says.

Light smiles, his eyes drinking the younger man in. His cheeks are red with the chill of the wind, his eyes sparkle, and his hair blows wildly about his face.

"Matsuda said you might be up-"

"Shhhh… Come here." Light whispers, smiling that mischievous smile. He puts his hands on L's waist, as if he is going to kiss him.

"Close your eyes." he breathes into his ear, and when he obeys, turns him to face forward, toward the water, pressing him gently to the rail, standing right behind him.

"Okay, now step up." L hears right beside his ear, and hesitates, "It's okay. I've got you. I'll never let go."

He lifts his foot and moves it forward, stepping up onto the bow rail with both feet, feeling Light follow directly behind. His lack of vision intensifies his sense of touch, and he feels the length of Light's body pressing against him. He feels him take his two hands and raise them until he is standing with his arms outstretched on each side. L goes along with him, and when Light's hands return to his waist, L's arms stay up, like wings.

"Okay… Open them."

L gasps as his eyes open. There is nothing in his field of vision but the ocean, like there is no ship under them at all, just the two of them soaring. The Atlantic unrolls toward them, a hammered copper shield under a dusk sky. There is only the wind and the hiss of the ocean sixty feet below.

"I'm flying…" L whispers, leaning forward, arching his back. Light wraps his arms around his waist to keep him steady, singing softly.

"Alone he sleeps in the shirt of man, with my three wishes clutched in his hand…  
>The first that he be spared the pain that comes from a dark and laughing rain.<br>When he finds love, may it always stay true.  
>Yes I beg for the second wish I made too.<br>But wish no more, my life you can take,  
>To have him please, just one day wake<br>To have him please…  
>To have him please, just one day wake."<p>

L closes his eyes, feeling himself floating weightless far above the sea. He smiles dreamily and leans back, gently pressing his back to Light's chest, who pushes slightly forward against him.

Slowly, Light raises his hands, running them along L's sides, to meet his, fingertips intertwining. Moving slowly, their fingers caress through and around one another, exploring.

Light tips his face forward into L's blowing ebony hair, letting the scent of him envelop his senses, until his cheek is against the others' ear. L turns his head until his lips are near Light's. He lowers his arms, turning further, until he finds Light's mouth with his.

Light wraps his arms around him from behind, and they kiss with L's head turned and tilted back, surrendering to him, to the emotion, to the inevitable. They kiss slowly and tremulously, but with burning passion.

Light and the ship seem to merge into one force of power and optimism, lifting L up, buoying him forward on a magical journey, soaring onward into the night without fear.

…

L blinks, coming back to the present. He sees the wreck on the screens, the sad ghost ship deep in the abyss.

"That was the last time Titanic ever saw daylight." He says quietly.

Mello changes the tape in the mini cassette recorder, speaking into it, "Okay, so we're up to dusk on the night of the sinking. Six hours to go."

"I just don't get it," Matt says, "There's Smith, and he's standing there, and he's got the iceberg warning in his _fucking _hand…" he looks at Near and his child-like appearance, "Excuse me, his hand, and he's ordering _more speed…_"

"Twenty-six years of experience working against him. He figures anything big enough to sink the ship they're going to see in time to turn." Mello explains, looking at the screens, "But the ships' too big, with too small a rudder… it doesn't corner worth a damn. Everything he knows is wrong."

L ignores the conversation. He has the silver band on his finger, right next to a slightly newer one, turning it slowly. He watches the monitor, which displays the ruins of Suite B-52/56.

…

As they enter the sitting room of L's suite, Light becomes overwhelmed by the opulence of the room. The beautiful woodwork, the satin upholstery… He sets his sketchbook and drawing materials on a marble table.

"Will this light do?" he hears L ask behind him.

"Huh?"

"Don't artists need good light?" L tilts his head in confusion, like the first time Light had seen him.

"Zat eez true, but I am not used to working een zuch… 'orreeble condeetions." Light says in a terrible French accent, and his eyes widen as he spots L's paintings. Walking to them, he kneels in front of one of L's favorites. "Monet…" he runs his fingers over the canvas lightly, "Isn't he great? Look at his use of colour… I saw him once, through a hole in this garden fence in Gavarnie."

L walks to the adjoining walk-in wardrobe. Light watches as he works the combination to a small safe.

"Aiber insists on lugging this thing everywhere." L tells him, chuckling.

"Hmm… should we be expecting him anytime soon?" he asks, looking around the room.

"Not so long as the cigars and brandy hold out." L answers as he opens the safe door. Glancing up, he meets amber eyes in the mirror behind the safe. He opens the velvet jewelry box and removes the necklace, and holds it up for Light, who takes it nervously.

"That's nice…" he comments, "What is it, a sapphire?" he asks, gazing into the beautiful stone.

"A diamond." L corrects, "A very rare diamond."

"Whew…"

"Light, I want you to draw me like one of your French girls," Light nods. "wearing this." L says.

"Alright."

"Wearing _only _this." he amends, smirking at Light's amusing facial expression.

Light looks at him, surprised, and swallows thickly. "O-okay."

L moves into his dressing room, removing his clothes and putting on a thin robe made of black chiffon. Walking into the sitting room, he sees Light laying out his pencils like surgical tools, his sketchbook lying open and ready. He looks up as L walks further into the room, eyes sliding over the entirety of his barely-covered body.

"The last thing I need is another portrait of me looking like a porcelain doll." L tells him, swinging the tie to his robe in one hand and holding out a dime in the other, "As a paying customer, I expect to get what I want."

He tosses the dime at Light and steps back, parting the robe slowly, the blue stone glimmering against his creamy chest. His heart is pounding as he slowly lowers the robe. Light looks stricken, gazing at him as the material drops to the floor.

"Um… Just lie on the bed- the couch." he says quietly, blushing and motioning to the yellow couch. L lies down, still facing the other boy, and attempts to situate himself, moving his arms from above his head to help position himself. "Tell me when it looks… right." he says, squirming a bit under Light's gaze.

"No… put that arm back up…" Light says, all traces of a blush gone from his face, "hand by your face… now lower your head a bit, eyes to me. Keep them on me. That's it."

He starts to sketch, looking up from time to time to make sure he's getting the lines right.

"So serious." L giggles. Light smiles a little and L relaxes again. He can tell when Light reaches his more private areas on the drawing.

"I believe you are blushing, Mr. Big Artiste." L says, stifling a laugh as Light turns a little redder, "I can't imagine Monsieur Monet blushing."

"He does _landscapes_." Light says, sweating, "Relax your face. No laughing."

Amber eyes barely seen over the sketch paper sweep over L's naked form and settle on his own deep black orbs before sliding back to the paper on which his nearly-bare body is being immortalized. L finds his cheeks flushing as well at the idea of being observed in his current state, the image of Light's eyes burning itself into his memory like the fiery gaze that sends flames licking over every inch of his skin.

Despite his nervousness, Light draws with sure strokes, and what emerges is the best thing he's ever done. L's pose is relaxed, his hands soft and beautiful, and his eyes radiating that energy, that fire that Light loves about him.

…

"… My heart was pounding the entire time. It was the most… _erotic_ moment of my life… up until then, at least." L looks away from the monitors to see a semicircle of listeners staring in rapt, frozen silence.

"So what happened next?" Matt asks, grinning.

"You mean, did we 'do it'?" L asks, smiling, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Jeevas, but Light was very professional."

…

L gazes at the drawing. Light has x-rayed his soul… He leans against the artists shoulders, wearing his robe again, watching as Light initials it.

"Date it, Light. I want to always remember this night."

He does, _April 14, 1912._

L smiles, leaning over Light's shoulder to give him a quick kiss, which turns to a smoldering one rather quickly, before departing to get dressed and leave Aiber his _gift_.

* * *

><p>FFN wasn't letting me sign in... Anyways, here's the kiss and the drawing, tell me if I messed it up or if it's good. Thanks.<br>-B


	12. Chapter 12

Hi, this is the co-writer, beta, and Blaisey's fanfiction wife, I don't have an ffn, though! He's stuck with his mom at the moment and can't write, so he said I could do some. Long AN at the end explaining why it's taken so long for us to update, blah blah blah, on with the story!

* * *

><p>L, fully dressed, returns to the sitting room. They hear a key in the lock and L grabs Light's hand, leading him silently through the bedrooms, listening as Mikami, Aiber's manservant, calls for L.<p>

"Master Liam? Hello?"

They open another door and both wince as it slams shut behind them.

"Come on!" L says as they get to the hallway and break into a run, surprising the few ladies and gentlemen around them.

L pulls Light past the stairs to the bank of elevators, sprinting into one, scaring the hell out of the operator.

"Take us down, quickly!" L orders. The operator scrambles to comply, Light closing the steel gates for him. Mikami runs up just as the lift starts to descend. He slams his hand against the bars of the outer gate.

L flips him off as they go down, laughing along with Light at the rude gesture he'd never made before and the look on Mikami's face.

They scramble out of the elevator as soon as it's still, laughing and holding one another up, they run into a room, not really knowing where they're going anymore, and as the door closes behind them they slide down the wall and dissolve into laughter.

Looking through the small round window into the hall, Light laughs as he sees Mikami emerge from another lift and running to the one he and L had just exited, scanning the foyer when he sees they're not in the lift.

"Pretty tough for a valet, this guy!" Light says, smiling.

"He's an ex-detective, from Scotland Yard. Aiber's father hired him to keep Aiber out of trouble… Make sure he always got back to the hotel with his wallet and watch after some crawl through the less reputable areas of whatever city he's in."

"Kind of like what we're doing right n—Uh oh!"

Mikami has spotted them from a cross-corridor nearby, and charges toward them, L and Light run around a corner into a blind alley with one door, marked 'CREW ONLY', and Light flings it open, dragging L in by the hand.

The room is roaring with the sound of the boilers below and Light turns to latch the deadbolt before covering his ears and looking around the small room. There is no way out but a ladder going down.

"After you!" Light shouts over the din, pointing to the smoking hole.

They go down the escape ladder and look around in amazement. It's like a vision of hell itself, with the roaring furnaces and black figures moving in the smoky reddish glow. They run the length of the boiler room, dodging surprised stokers, and trimmers with their wheelbarrows of coal.

They run through an open watertight door into another boiler room, Light pulling L through the fiercely hot alley between two boilers and they wind up in the dark, out of sight of the men working. Watching from the shadows, they see the stokers working in the hellish glow, shoveling coal into the insatiable maws of the furnaces. The whole place thunders with the roar of the fires. Light turns and kisses L's face, tasting the sweat trickling down from his forehead. He finds the others lips and they kiss passionately in the steamy, pounding darkness before turning and opening another door, finding themselves in a storage room.

They run laughing through the rows of stacked cargo; L hugs himself against the cold after the dripping heat of the boiler rooms.

They come to a brand new Renault touring car, strapped down to a pallet. It looks like a royal coach from a fairy tale, its brass trim and lamps nicely setting off the deep burgundy color.

Light offers his hand to L, opening the door to the plushly upholstered back seat and sticking his nose up in the air. L takes his hand and climbs in, acting very royal. He looks around and notices the cut crystal bud vases on the walls, each containing a red rose.

Light jumps into the driver's seat, enjoying the feeling of the leather and wood.

"Where to, sir?" he asks L in a terribly fake and posh English accent.

L leans forward and whispers in his ear, "To the stars." Before reaching his hands out and pulling him into the back to join him. He lands next to L, and his breath seems loud in the quiet darkness. He looks at him, and L is smiling. It's their moment of truth.

"Are you nervous?" Light asks, his voice cracking.

L shakes his head 'no' as his fingers twine with Light's. Light strokes his face, cherishing him. L kisses his artists' fingers, looking into his smoldering eyes.

"Put your hands on me, Light." L whispers, moving Lights' hand to his waist. He kisses him and slides down the seat under Light's welcome weight.

* * *

><p>Okay! Sorry for stopping there, but Blaisey wants to write the lemon. Anyways! Ok, as I said on his profile, my computer died, and he keeps all his stuff on it because the only computer he has, he shares with his boyfriend and his whole family (the boyfriends), so when he writes, he send it to me, then deletes it, and I clean it up a bit, send it back to let him check it and add anything he might want to, and he sends it back so I can post it.<p>

Complicated.

So when my computer died (my OS was deleted somehow...), all he had written went with it, and I ended up having to buy a new computer. So I'm sorry, and I'll go ahead and speak for B and say _he's _sorry, so... we're sorry. And we hope you don't hate us and aren't completely pissed at us. Or at least I do. I don't know about Blaise, he usually doesn't care.

So there. Long explanation is _long... _and tiring. So bye. Please read and review! I will reply, and to all those who've already reviewed, thank you, and I'll also reply to you! Cause Blaisey won't...


	13. Chapter 13

Light trails his eyes downwards to where his hand rests against L's hip, and when he looks back up into L's obsidian eyes, he sees all his desire mirrored in them. He leans down, lips touching his lovers' gently, the passion growing between them. They separate with identical groans, neither having done this before, a string of saliva hanging between their open, panting mouths. L slides his hands down Lights heaving chest and up under his shirt, popping off the two bottom buttons on his hasty path upwards. Light sighs as L's cold hands touch him in his silent exploration, and slips his jacket off, using it as a makeshift blanket, quickly unbuttoning L's loose cotton shirt, moving it aside so he can lick his lover's chest.

"Mmh…" L whimpers, the sound resonating in the silence of the storage room. Light slides his hands down lower, undoing the button of L's grey trousers, unzipping and removing them to see L's arousal on full display. L's eyes meet his once again as his hands stray to the straps of Light's suspenders, slipping them over his shoulders before undoing his trousers as well. Feeling his lovers throbbing member in his hand causes L to shudder and he closes his eyes, pumping Light's manhood and gaining a strained moan from the other man.

"I want you," Light says, and L's eyes flutter open to meet Light's molten amber gaze.

"Then have me, Light." He answers, and grabs Light's hand to lead it down to his entrance.

"I need—"

L brings his hand back up and puts his fingers into his mouth, coating them thoroughly before releasing. Light trails his fingers down, slipping them inside him one by one, slowly, until he is ready for his lover to take him.

Light licks his hand, and strokes his cock firmly, lubricating it with saliva and pre-come, before gently pressing against L's entrance, listening for signs of pain as he pushes forward inch by inch. L winces as the thick intrusion stretches him, his body screaming in opposition to it, tightening around the large member as it pushes further inside him. Finally, the movement ceases and L realizes that it is completely inside, throbbing with Light's pulse and swelling with arousal at the tight warmth surrounding it. L waits for the pain to subside, and it does, just a little.

"Y-you can… you can move now." L says, shuddering, and gasps as Light does just that, pulling out and thrusting back in shallowly. The pain returns for a moment in full force, before pure ecstasy explodes in his mind. He registers the pain again, and then that wonderful pleasure once more.

"L-light… Yes…" L whispers, and Light groans in his ear, his thrusts becoming harder, and he pounds into that spot that makes L lose himself each time it's touched. Their ragged breathing is all that can be heard as Light gives a particularly hard thrust that sends L over the edge, mouth opening in a silent scream and hands gripping Light's shoulders, his muscles spasming around the throbbing hardness inside him, the feeling of warmth flooding his insides, heightening his peak. His hand slams against the glass of the rear window, tensing and relaxing with his other muscles before slipping down, leaving a smudged handprint in the veil of condensation.

* * *

><p>Light's overcoat lies over them like a blanket, stirring as L pulls it down a bit. They're huddled under it, intertwined, still mostly clothed. Their faces are flushed from the exertion as they look at one another wonderingly. L puts his hand on Light's face, as if unsure that he is real.<p>

"You're trembling." L whispers, stroking his lovers face.

"Its okay, I'll be alright." Light assures him as he lays his head against his chest, "I can feel your heart beating." He whispers, closing his eyes, losing himself in the heat and the passion of the night.

* * *

><p>"…Well, I wasn't the first teenager seduced in the back seat of a car, and certainly not the last, by several million," L says in response to the incredulous looks he's receiving from his audience; his grandson gaping at him, "He had such fine hands. Artists' hands, but strong too… roughened by work." He explains further, ignoring the stares in favor of continuing his story, "I remember their touch so vividly..."<p>

* * *

><p>L and Light, fully dressed, come through a crew door onto the deck, laughing so hard that they could barely stand.<p>

"Did you see the looks on their faces? Did you see?" Light asks before laughing again.

They embrace, standing in each others arms, their breath clouding around them in the now freezing air, but they don't even feel the cold.

"When the ship docks," L says, eyes meeting Light's, "I'm getting off with you."

Light's laughter ceases, and he looks at L like he did when they first spoke. "This is crazy." He tells him, smiling.

"I know… It doesn't make any sense." He says laughing, then becomes serious immediately, "That's why I trust it."

Light pulls him forward and kisses him fiercely, coaxing L's tongue into submission, before pulling away as they hear a ruckus above them.

"Iceberg! Right ahead!" they hear a man shout from the crows nest, and they rush to the starboard rail. They get there in time to see the berg moving aft down the side of the ship. Leaning over the starboard rail, they examine what they can see of the hull of the ship for visible damage.

"Looks okay… I don't see anything." Light says. L looks at him, the fear in his eyes unmasked before he turns back to look down the side of the ship.

"Could it have damaged the ship?" He asks. Light puts his arm around him, reassuring his lover.

"It didn't seem like much of a bump." He explains, burying his face in L's hair, "I'm sure we're fine." They separate slightly, still holding hands and go up the steps to the promenade, ignoring the stares as they climb over the locked gate.

A moment later, Captain Smith rounds the corner, followed by Wammy and a man neither L nor Light recognize. The three men, faces grim, crush right past L and Light. Wammy barely even glances at them.

"Can you shore up?" They hear the captain ask.

"Not unless the pumps get ahead." The man they don't know answers quickly.

L and Light stare after them as they go down the stairs to the well deck.

"It's bad…" Light whispers to L, his hand tightening around his lovers.

"We have to tell Mother and Aiber."

"Now it's worse…"

"Come with me, Light." L says, begging with his eyes, "I jump, you jump, right?"

"Right." Light says, kissing him chastely before following him through the door leading inside the ship, hand in hand.

* * *

><p>Light and L cross the foyer, entering the corridor. They see Mikami waiting for them as they approach the room.<p>

"We've been looking for you, sir." He says to L with fake congeniality, following them into the room.

Aiber, Eve, and Wedy sit waiting, along with the Master at Arms and two stewards. Silence reigns as L and Light enter. Eve closes her robe at her throat when she sees Light holding hands with her son.

"Something serious has happened." L announces solemnly.

"That's right," Aiber answers, his glare burning through the couple, "Two things dear to me have disappeared this evening. Now that one is back, I have a pretty good idea where to find the other."

His glare is directed at Light as he orders the Master at Arms, "Search him."

"Coat off, mate." The burly officer says, and Light shakes his head in dismay.

"What's this about?" he asks, handing his coat to a steward, twining his fingers with L's once more.

"Aiber, you can't be serious! We're in the middle of an emergency and you—" L's sentence comes to a halt as the steward pulls the Heart of the Ocean out of Lights coat pocket.

"What the hell! This is horseshit!" Light shouts as his hand is pulled from L's grasp to be placed in handcuffs, "Don't you believe it L! Don't!"

"He couldn't have…" L defends, searching Light's face for any sign of a lie.

"Of course he could, it's easy enough for a professional." Aiber says, putting an arm around L's waist. L jumps at the touch and pulls away.

"I was with him the whole time." He explains.

Aiber leans down, and in a malice-laced whisper, says, "Perhaps he did it while you were putting your clothes back _on._"

"Don't believe him! They put it in my pocket, L!" Light's eyes beg for his agreement.

"This isn't even your pocket." Mikami says, "'Property of A. L. Ryerson'" He reads.

"That was reported stolen today." The Master at Arms says, looking at Light with contempt.

"I was going to return it! L—"

"Oh, an honest thief! We have an _honest_ thief here!" Aiber jests.

Feeling utterly betrayed, hurt and confused, L stares into his lovers' eyes, searching for the truth, before shrinking away from him. Light shouts at him as Mikami and the Master at Arms drag him out.

"L, don't listen to them! I didn't do this! You know I didn't! You jump, I jump, L! You _know _I didn't do this!"

L turns away, his heart becoming as stoic as his eyes. Wedy lays a comforting hand on his shoulder as the tears well up.

"Why don't you believe him?" she whispers into L's ear as he sobs into her blouse once again.

"I had better go dress." L's mother says quietly, "Wedy, come."

Aiber holds the door for them as they leave, then marches over to L once it is closed. He regards him coldly for a moment, and slaps him, hard, across the face.

"Isn't this a little _slut_?"

To L, the blow is inconsequential compared to the blow his heart has been dealt. His expression remains the same as when Light was dragged out.

Aiber seizes his shoulders roughly, shaking him, "Look at me, you little—"

A knock interrupts him, the door opens and Wedy puts her head in.

"Sirs, I've been told to ask you to please put on your lifebelts, and come up to the boat deck." She says, noticing the position the two are in, and L's blank expression.

"Get out. We're busy." Aiber orders, not letting go of L's shoulders.

She persists, coming into the room to get the lifebelts down from the top of a dresser.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Morello, but it's apparently Captain's orders. Please dress warmly, it's quite cold tonight. May I suggest coats and tophats?" She says coldly, pushing a lifebelt against his chest.

"This is ridiculous." He says, throwing the belt to the ground and slamming the door behind him as he leaves.

"Not to worry, L. Everything will work out." She tells the boy she thinks of as a son as she puts the lifebelt in his hands.

* * *

><p>L enters the A-deck foyer with Aiber and his entourage, Aiber being the only one not carrying a lifebelt. L follows listlessly, dead to the world.<p>

"It's just the god damned English doing everything by the book." The blond man says in response to a comment L missed.

"There's no need for language, Mr. Morello." L's mother says, and turns to Wedy, "Go back and turn the heater on in my room, so it won't be too cold when we get back."

Quillish Wammy enters the foyer, looking around the magnificent room that he knows is doomed. L, standing nearby, sees his heartbroken expression. He walks over to him and Aiber follows.

"I saw the iceberg, Mr. Wammy." He says when he reaches him, "and I see it in your eyes. Please tell me the truth."

"The ship will sink." He says honestly.

"You're certain?" L asks, hoping for an answer that he knew he wouldn't get.

"Yes." Wammy says, "In an hour or so, all this… will be at the bottom of the Atlantic."

"But this ship can't sink!" Aiber laughs, treating it like a joke.

"She's made of iron, sir." Whammy answers quietly, "I assure you she can, and she will." He looks to L once more, knowing the boy will understand him, "It is a mathematical certainty."

"My god…" L's mother, who had followed them over, looks around with a new perspective.

"Please, tell only who you must. I don't want to be responsible for a panic," he says to the older woman before pulling L away from the crowd, "Get to a boat, quickly. You remember what I told you? About the boats?"

"Yes. I understand. Thank you."

* * *

><p>Light glares at nothing in particular as Mikami cuffs his arms around a four inch water pipe in the office of the Master at Arms. A crewman rushes in anxiously and speaks quickly.<p>

"You're wanted by the Purser, sir." He says to the officer, "Urgently."

The man turns to Light, and Mikami speaks up.

"Go on, I'll keep an eye on him." He says, and pulls a pearl handled Colt .45 automatic from under his coat. The Master at Arms nods and tosses the handcuff key to Mikami, then leaves with the crewman. Mikami flips the key in the air and catches it, looking at Light disdainfully.

* * *

><p>Aiber, Eve, and L rush out of the doors near a band playing Bach's concerto, almost running toward the crowds surrounding the boats.<p>

"My brooch! I left my brooch, I must have it!" L's mother shouts and turns to run back to the rooms and Aiber takes her by the arm. The firmness of his grim surprises her.

"Stay here, Eve." He orders. She takes in his expression and she fears him for the first time.

* * *

><p>In the Master at Arms' office, Light sits chained to the water pipe next to a porthole. He watches as the water rises, coming halfway up the glass. Mikami sits on the edge of a desk, rolling a .45 bullet back and forth. He picks it up and loads the gun.<p>

"You know… I believe this ship may sink." He says nonchalantly, and smiles as he walks over to his prisoner, "Ah, yes… I was asked to give you this small token of our appreciation," He punches Light in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him, "Complements of Mr. Aiber Morello."

He flips the key in the air again and catches it, putting it in his pocket. He departs, leaving Light gasping, chained to the pipe.

* * *

><p>L watches the farewells taking place in the crowds surrounding the lifeboats; husbands saying goodbye to their wives and children, lovers and friends being torn apart. Nearby, Misa is getting a reluctant woman to board a boat.<p>

"Will the lifeboats be seated according to class?" L's mother asks a passing officer, receiving no answer, "I hope they're not _too _crowded—"

"Oh Mother, shut up!" L says, staring at her with disgust. She freezes, her mouth still open, "Don't you understand?" L continues, "The water is freezing and there aren't enough boats… Not enough by half. Half of the people on this ship are going to _die_."

"Not the better half." Aiber comments, smirking. It hits L like a thunderbolt; Light is third class. He doesn't stand a chance. A flare is sent up and it bursts over head as he processes this, bathing his face in the white light.

"You unimaginable bastard…" L says as he realizes Light never lied.

"Come on, L, you're next, son." Misa says, pulling him away from Aiber. He backs away, shaking his head.

"L, get in the boat!" his mother orders from her place in a lifeboat.

"Goodbye, mother." He says, looking at her one last time as the boat begins to lower and he runs past Aiber, who grabs his arm, but he pulls free and runs through the crowd. Aiber catches up with him and clutches him by the arms roughly.

"Where are you going?" he asks angrily before seeing the look on L's face, "To _him?_ Is that it? To be a whore for a gutter rat?"

"I'd rather be his whore than your _wife._"

His jaw clenches and he squeezes L's arms violently, pulling him back toward the boats. L hocks up some saliva and spits in his eye, the way Light taught him. He releases in surprise and L runs into the crowd, rubbing the bruises already forming from Aiber's rough treatment.

* * *

><p>Light pulls at the pipe with all his strength, but it won't budge. He turns as he hears a gurgling sound, and sees water pouring under the shut door, spreading rapidly across the floor.<p>

"Shit… Shit… _Shit!_"

He pulls the cuff, trying to pull his hand through, working until his wrist begins to bleed.

"Help! Somebody! Can anyone hear me?" he shouts, banging the metal of the cuffs against the pipe, "Shit… this could be bad."

* * *

><p>L runs through the corridors, looking for anyone who can help him, when he sees Mr. Wammy, opening stateroom doors, checking that people are out. L rushes up to him, breathless.<p>

"Mr. Wammy! Thank god… Where would the Master at Arms take someone under arrest?"

"What?" he looks around in puzzlement and his eyes widen when he sees L, "You have to get to a boat right away!"

"No!" L shouts, gripping the mans shoulders, "I'm doing this with or without your help, but without will take longer."

Mr. Wammy examines him for a moment before giving in, "Take the elevator to the very bottom, go left, down the crewman's passage, then make a right."

"Bottom, left, right; I've got it."

"Hurry, L."

L does just that, running for the lifts just in time to see the last Operator closing his lift to leave.

The man speaks politely, "Sorry, sir, the lifts are closed—"

Without thinking, L grabs him and hauls him back into the lift.

"I'm _through_ being polite, goddamnit! Now take me down!" he shouts before releasing the man, watching as he fumbles to close the gate and start the lift.

L watches the decks go past through the wrought iron door of the elevator car. The lift slows, and suddenly freezing cold water is swirling around his legs. He screams in surprise, as does the operator. The car lands in a foot of icy water, shocking him. He claws the door open and splashes out.

"What are you doing?" the operator asks, not waiting for a response, "I'm going back up! I'm going up!" he warns, receiving no acquiescence from the young man mumbling to himself.

"Left… Crew passage." L says to himself as he looks around. He spots it and sloshes down the flooded corridor. The place is understandably deserted. He is on his own.

"Right, right… Right!" he turns into a cross-corridor, splashing down the hall, doors surrounding him.

"Light!" he shouts, hoping to hear anything, "Light!"

* * *

><p>Light is hopelessly pulling on the pipe again, straining until he turns red. He collapses back on a bench, realizing he's screwed.<p>

"Light!" he hears L's voice from the hall, and stands in surprise.

"L! In here!" he shouts, banging the metal against metal again.

L hears his voice and spins, running back. He finds the right door, pushing it open, the water from the hall pouring into the room in a wave. He splashes over to his lover and throws his arms around him.

"Light, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" he sobs into Light's neck, kissing wherever his lips reach. They kiss passionately for a moment before separating.

"That guy Mikami put it in my pocket." Light explains, kissing L's face.

"I know."

"See if you can find a key for these. Try those drawers. It's a little silver one."

L kisses his face and hugs him once more before going to the desk to dig through it.

"So how did you find out I didn't do it?" Light asks.

"I didn't." L answered, turning to him, "I just realized I already knew."

They share a look, and L goes back to ransacking the room, searching drawers, cupboards, and looking through the clear water at the floor.

"There's no key in here." He says, wading through the water that is now nearly two feet deep, standing next to his lover.

"You have to go for help." Light tells him, leaning his head against his lovers shoulder, feeling him nod.

"I'll be right back." He assures Light, kissing him quickly.

"I'll wait here." Light jokes as he sloshes out, and looks down at the swirling water.

* * *

><p>Bet you didn't expect us to update so fast, huh? Anyways, we have a <em>real<em> beta! Enjie left a great review, and I replied, and she offered her services. I accepted, obviously. I have classes, so I do need sleep... College is a bitch, and I'm more of a writer than a beta-reader. Anyways, the lemon should be realistic enough. He and I both have experiance with that :D

Thanks to all who read this. Even if you don't leave a review, you're still awesome!


	14. Chapter 14

L splashes down the hall to a stairwell, going up to the next deck. He bounds up the stairs to find himself in a long corridor, part of the labyrinth of steerage hallways. He is alone here, as well. A long groan of stressing metal echoes along the hall as the ship settles.

"Hello?" he calls, "Somebody?"

He turns a corner and runs along another corridor in a daze. The hall slopes down, the water shimmering, reflecting the lights on the ceiling. The margin of the water creeps toward him.

A young man dashes around the corner behind him, sending up geysers of spray. He pelts past L without slowing, his eyes crazed.

"Help me! We need help!" he begs, following the man for a moment. He doesn't look back. It is like a bad dream, as the hull gongs with terrifying sounds.

The lights flicker and go out, leaving him in utter darkness. He finds himself hyperventilating; his heart pounding in his ears, his muscles tensed. He holds a hand out, feeling his way forward, the groaning sounds of the sinking ship made all the more ominous in the complete blackness he is engulfed in. The lights flicker back on and he nearly sobs with relief, realizing that what seemed to him as hours of darkness was really only a matter of a few terrifying seconds.

A steward runs around the corner, his arms full of lifebelts. He sees L and reprimands him for being there. He grabs L's arms forcefully, and L winces as he pulls him like a wayward child.

"Come on, then, let's get you topside, son, that's right."

"Wait! I need your help! There's—"

"No need for panic, my boy. Come along."

"No! You're going the wrong way! You don't understand! There's a man down here and he needs your help!" L pulls against his captors grip, "You're not listening to me! Let me go!"

He doesn't comply, so L shouts the order. The man turns to chastise him, and L punches him in the nose, rubbing at his abused arms. Shocked, he staggers back into a wall, bringing a hand up to his bleeding nose.

"To hell with you!" he says before standing to run down the corridor.

L turns, giving up on finding help. He sees a glass case with a fire-axe in it. He removes his shirt and wraps it around his elbow before smashing it into the glass. He clutches the axe, running back the way he came. At the stairwell, he looks down and gasps. The water has flooded the bottom five steps. He goes down and has to crouch to look along the corridor to the room where Light is trapped.

L plunges into the water, which is up to his waist, and pushes forward, holding the axe above his head. He grimaces at the pain from the freezing water, but continues toward his imprisoned lover.

Light has climbed up onto a level part on the pipe that is about a foot under water, and hugs the pipe. L wades in, shirtless, holding an axe above his head.

"Will this work?" L asks, and Light notices he can see his breath.

"We'll find out." He answers, pulling his hands as far apart as he can, stretching the chain taut across the steel pipe, his exposed wrists on either side of it.

L lifts the axe above his head, closing his eyes.

"Wait! Try a couple of practice swings."

L sloshes over to the desk and swings at it. He pulls the axe out of the wood and looks at Light.

"Now, try to hit the same mark."

He swings hard, the blade cutting into the wood four inches from his target.

"Okay, that's enough practice." Light says, eyes wide. He braces himself as L raises the axe, aiming for a target that is about three inches wide. He has to hit it with all the force he can muster, with Light's hands on either side.

"You can do it, L." Light tells him, meeting his eyes, "Hit it as hard as you can. I trust you."

Light closes his eyes, as does L.

The axe comes down, the sound echoing around the room. L gingerly opens his eyes to see Light grinning, with two separate cuffs. L drops the axe, his strength leaving him. Light jumps down into the water, swearing at the cold.

"Shit, this is cold! Shit!"

They wade out into the hall; L starts toward the stairs, but sees the water bubbling up into the opening.

"That's the way out!" he exasperates.

"It's too deep. We have to find another way."

They continue on, finding a stairwell that isn't completely submerged and go up. There's a panel door that's locked. They look at each other and agree wordlessly, backing up and running at the door, crashing their shoulders into it. The doorframe splinters and the door bursts open under the force of their combined weight. L and Light stumble through, into another corridor; a steward nearby turns at the crash.

"Hey! You'll have to pay for that, you know! That's White Star Line property—"

"Shut up!" they say together, both turning to the man at the same time before rushing down the hall. They join the steerage stragglers, heading aft.

An Irish woman gives L a blanket, more for modesty than because he is blue-lipped and shivering.

"Here, lad, cover yourself." She says kindly. Light rubs L's arms, trying to warm him up as they walk along. The woman's husband offers them a flask of whiskey.

"This'll take the chill off." He says, smiling at the pair. L takes a great swig and hands it off to Light, who smiles kindly, because L looks close to tears, and follows suit.

Up ahead, a group is converged in front of a gate, and Light sees a familiar face among them.

"Matsuda! Matsu!" he calls, and the man turns as L and Light run up to him. He and Light hug like brothers and he flings an arm over L's shoulders in greeting.

"What's going on?" Light asks, standing on his toes to see over all the people blocking his view.

"The boats are going." Matsuda explains sullenly.

"We have to get up there or we'll be drinking saltwater." Light comments, "Where's Aizawa?"

Matsuda points over the heads of the solidly packed crowd to the gate. They make their way forward as a group, pushing through the crowd. When they reach the front of the group, they see Aizawa with his hands on the bars of the steel gate which blocks their salvation.

The crew open it a foot or so and a few women pass through.

"Women and children only! No men!" They shout over the voices of the crowd, but some terrified men, not understanding English, try to rush though the gap, forcing the gate open. The crewmen and stewards push them back, shoving and punching them.

"Get back!" a steward shouts, "Get back, you lot!"

"Lock it!" a crewman bellows

They struggle to get the gate closed again, another steward brandishing a small revolver, holding it hesitantly. They lock the gate and a cry goes up among the crowd, which surges forward, pounding against the steel and shouting in several languages.

"For the love of god, man! There are children down here! Let us up so we have a chance!" Aizawa yells, shaking the bars, but the crewmen are scared now. The situation is quickly spiraling out of control, and now they have a mob. Aizawa gives up and pushes his way through the crowd, followed by Light, L, and Matsuda.

"It's hopeless that way." The angry man says when they reach the back of the crowd.

"Well whatever we're going to do, we'd better do it fast." Light says, his arms around L.

"Everyone! All of you!" Matsuda calls, gesturing wildly to a small group that Light recognizes as his girlfriends family, "Come with me now! We go to the boats!"

They can't understand what he's saying, but they sense his urgency. A brawny man, apparently the patriarch of the family, shakes his head, refusing to panic or to allow his family to go with this group of men. Matsuda turns to the blonde girl.

"Helga… Kudasai… Please… Come with me, I am lucky. It is my destiny to go to America."

She kisses him, then steps back to be with her family. Light lays a hand on his shoulder, his eyes saying 'let's go'.

"I will never forget you." Matsuda tells her with tears in his eyes, and turns to Light, who leads the way out of the crowd. Looking back, he sees her disappear into the sea of panicked faces.

They get lost while searching for a way out. Pushing their way through the crowded halls till they come upon a narrow stairwell. They go up two decks before they are stopped behind a small group pressed against a steel gate, the men yelling at an exasperated steward.

Light moves to the front, L following along behind him, and speaks to the man firmly.

"Open the gate," he orders.

"Go to the main stairwell. It'll all get sorted out there."

"_Open_ the _gate!_" Light repeats, his eyes flashing.

"Go back to the main stairwell!"

Light finally loses it, grabbing the bars and shaking them violently.

"God damnit, you son of a bitch!" he shouts, and calms when he feels L's hands on his arms. He turns to his lover and L points a slim finger at a bench on the landing between decks.

"Great!" he says, pulling L along with him, both grabbing the end of the bench that is bolted to the floor, Aizawa and Matsuda joining them, taking hold of the opposite end and yanking until the bolts shear and it breaks free.

"Move aside! Quickly, move aside!" L says, clearing a path between the waiting people. Light and Aizawa charge up the steps with the bench and ram it into the gate with all their strength. It takes a couple of slams, but it rips loose from its track and falls outward, narrowly missing the steward; led by Light, the crowd surges through.

"If you have any intention of keeping your _pathetic_ job," L says in his most imperious tone, "I suggest you escort these good people to the boat deck. Now."

Class wins out, and the steward nods dumbly before motioning for them to follow.

* * *

><p>I was supposed to post this <em>hours <em>ago... Sorry about the wait, guys. Enjoy!


	15. Chapter 15

Light, L, and the others burst onto the boat deck from the crew stairs just aft of the third funnel. They look at the empty davits, horror sinking in as they realize there are no more boats left.

"The boats… They're gone." L says, the expression on his usually stoic face portraying the terror in his heart. He sees a man he recognizes from the First Class strolling along the deck, escorting two First Class ladies.

"Colonel Gracie! Are there any boats left?" he shouts quite hysterically.

"Oh, Liam! Yes, there are still a couple of boats all the way forward. This way, I'll lead you."

Light grabs L's hand and they sprint past Gracie, with Aizawa and Matsuda close behind. They tear past the band, amazingly still playing.

"Music to drown by, now I know I'm in First Class." Aizawa comments.

They reach the last few boats, joining the surprisingly small crowd of people. Even with the blanket and Light's arms around him L is shivering in the glacial air of the ship's deck.

"Women and children only!" an Officer shouts, his voice fading into the background as L takes in his surroundings. He watches as a woman with two young daughters looks into the eyes of a husband she knows she may never see again.

"It's goodbye for a little while… Only a little while. There's going to be another boat for the daddies, this one's for the mummies and children." He tells his girls, kissing their noses and wiping the tears from their frightened young faces.

"Go with mummy." He says, hugging his wife before she stumbles into the boat with the children, hiding her tears from them. Beneath the false good cheer, L can tell that the man is choked with emotion.

Some of the women are stoic, L observes, while others are overwhelmed by emotion and have to be helped into the boats. He sees a man scribble a note and hand it to a woman about to board a boat.

"Please, give this to my wife in DeMoines, Iowa." He pleads, eyes swimming with unshed tears. He is a third class man. He knows he will not make it.

Light hugs him tighter as L shivers, knowing it's not just from the cold.

"You'd better go check the other side." Light tells Matsuda and Aizawa. They nod and dart off, searching for a way around the deckhouse.

"I won't go without you." L says, knowing what Light is thinking.

"Get in the boat, L." Light pleads, desperation leaking through his strong façade.

"Yes, get in the boat, L." Aiber says from behind them. L is shocked to see him, and clings instinctively to Light.

Aiber looks him up and down, seeing him standing there shirtless and soaked, shivering in his thin dress pants.

"My god, look at you. You're a mess." He says laughing as he removes his overcoat, "Here, put this on."

He numbly shrugs into it, more for modesty than warmth.

"Here, son, how old are you?" the Officer asks him, having boarded all the women and children. He starts to announce his age, but Light cuts him off, knowing he can pass for a boy and trying his damndest to get him on a boat.

"He's only fourteen. He's my younger brother, please, let him go."

"Okay, come aboard, son. Quickly, please."

L turns his frightened eyes to his lover.

"Go on. I'll get on the next one." Light tells him, smiling.

"No. Not without you." L answers stubbornly. He doesn't even care that Aiber is standing right there, clenching his jaw at the emotion he sees between L and Light.

"There are boats on the other side that are allowing men in." Aiber whispers, leaning close to the pair, "Light and I can get off safely. Both of us."

Light smiles reassuringly at L, hugging him tight for a moment before releasing.

"See? I've got my own boat to catch. I'll be alright. Go on." He says, squeezing L's hand and pushing him toward the lifeboat.

"No… I'll go with you on that boat…"

"I'm afraid the arrangement I've made will only cover Light and I." Aiber says, "We'll all be in New York by sunrise. That's all that matters, right?"

"I—"

"L, please." Light says, his eyes pleading with him to just _go._

"Okay." He says, hugging him, and turns to shake Aiber's hand quickly before boarding the boat.

"Lower away!" the Officer bellows, directing the men at either end to make sure the boat lowers evenly. The two men watch at the rail as the boat begins to descend.

"You're a good liar." Aiber says lowly, still looking down at L.

"Almost as good as you."

"I always win Light, one way or another." He turns to him, smirking, "Pity I didn't keep that drawing." Aiber chuckles, "It's going to be worth a lot more in the morning."

Light knows he's screwed. He gazes down at L, not wanting to waste a second of his last sight of him.

L looks up, gazing into Light's eyes as the ropes go though the pulleys. All the sounds around him are fading away, and once more all he can hear is his blood pumping in his ears. A rocket bursts overhead, outlining his love in a halo of light, the sparks fading and falling away. He sees Light's hand trembling on the rail, the tears welling up in his eyes. The unbearable pain in his chest increases as he gets further and further from his Light, but he still stares up, tears pouring down his face uninhibited.

He sees the smirk on Aiber's face in his peripheral.

Suddenly, he jumps up, lunging across the woman next to him. He reaches the gunwale, climbing it, and hurls himself out of the boat to the rail of the A-Deck promenade, catching it, and scrambling over the wall. The boat continues its descent, but L is back on Titanic.

"No L! No!" Light spins from the rail, sprinting for the nearest way down to A-Deck.

Aiber, too, having seen him jump, and at the realization that L is willing to die for this man, this gutter scum, he is overwhelmed by a rage so all-consuming it eclipses his thoughts until there is nothing but L and Light.

* * *

><p>Light runs as fast as he can, banging through the doors to the A-Deck foyer and rushing down the stairs. He sees L coming into the foyer, flying toward him, Aiber's long coat flapping out behind him as he runs.<p>

They meet at the bottom of the stairs, colliding in an embrace.

"L! You're so stupid, L! You're such an idiot! Why did you do that, L? Why?" Light asks, in between quick, fervent kisses.

"You jump, I jump, right?" L says, his hands caressing his lovers face.

"Right." Light smiles, and pulls him into a long, passionate kiss, holding him tightly, refusing to let go. He tastes salt, and realizes that it's from the tears streaming down both their faces. They continue to kiss despite everything, welcoming the warmth they have created for themselves.

Aiber comes in and runs to the railing. Looking down he sees them locked in their embrace and growls, his vision going red with rage. Mikami comes up behind him and puts a restraining hand on him, but he whips around, grabbing the pistol from Mikami's waistband in a lightning-fast move.

He runs along the rail and down the stairs. As he reaches the landing above them, he raises the gun. Screaming in fury, he fires, a carved cherub at the foot of the center railing exploding at the impact of the bullet.

Light pulls L toward the stairs going down to the next deck. Aiber fires again, running down the steps toward them. A bullet blows a divot out of the oak paneling behind Light's head as he tugs L down the next flight of stairs.

Aiber steps on the skittering head of the cherub and goes sprawling. The gun skitters across the marble floor. He gets up, and reeling in his anger goes to retrieve it.

L and Light take the stairs two at a time and run straight into the deep water at the bottom of the grand staircase, literally dodging bullets as they slosh across the room to where the floor slopes up, until they reach dry footing at the entrance to the dining saloon.

The water laps at Aiber's feet and he retreats up the stairs a couple of steps, the eerie sound of the woodwork groaning and creaking surrounding him.

"I hope you enjoy your time together!" he calls to them as they run through the dining saloon. Suddenly, he remembers something and starts to laugh. He notices Mikami making his way down to him, perfectly composed even after chasing him, and his crazed laughter doesn't cease.

"What could _possibly_ be funny?" Mikami asks dryly as he reaches the step that Aiber is perched on.

"I put the diamond in my coat pocket." He explains, giggling madly. Mikami still looks lost, not understanding the significance of that statement, but noting his master's lack of a coat.

Aiber turns to him with a sickly expression, his eyes glittering, and shouts, "And I put the coat on L!"

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><p>Almost done... Thanks to all who favourited and reviewed, or even just read. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!<p> 


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